Duck fansflock to Buffalo
Merilyn Haliski.a
woman in her 50s,
proudly stood up out
other third-row seat
and waved her yellow pompom
frantically.
Rob Deihl, clad in Oregon col
ors, showed no signs of jet-lag
and clapped enthusiastically for
the Ducks in their all-too-short
NCAA Tournament appearance.
I may have been seated on press
row at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo,
N. Y., of all places, but there were
times when I could have sworn I
was in McArthur Court.
Especially when Oregon soph
omore guard Anthony Norwood
nailed a three with about four
minutes remaining in regulation
to cut the Seton Hall lead to one.
The Duck contingent—mostly
located in the section directly be
hind Oregon’s bench—immedi
ately jumped up and went nuts.
Seton Hall head coach Tommy
Amaker called a timeout, and the
“Mini-Pit” went even more crazy.
The Oregon band belted out the
fight song and the crowd started
chanting, “Let’s Go Ducks!”
The pitch of their screams didn’t
surprise me in the least, as I have
heard such adoration so many
times before. But it was during this
timeout break that I did a double
take and realized that we were all
on the other side of the country.
In a city that few Eugene resi
dents have ever visited, and still,
they were all there to be a part of
Oregon’s Big Dance experience.
And boy, did they make their
presence felt.
“I thought our fans were out
standing,” Oregon coach Ernie
Kent said. “There were a lot more
fans than I expected to see.”
Five minutes before tip-off, the
Duck faithful were gearing up for
the big game and found it hard to
contain themselves.
Deihl is a Eugene resident who
flew into town the night before
the game with his buddy. He said
the moment he found out about
where the Ducks would be play
ing, he “got on Priceline.com and
got the best deal and now I’m
pumpeu IU U« IltJlB.
Not all fans decked out in the
yellow and green flew in from
Oregon. Haliski was one of many
Duck fans in attendance who
now live on the East Coast.
“I drove five hours in a snow
storm to be here, and this is
great,” said Haliski, who lives in
Bethany, N.Y. “Ten minutes after
the selec
tion, I
called my
brother,
who lives
in Eugene,
and said,
‘get me a
ticket!’
Deihl
was quick
to point out
who was
sitting one
section
over from him.
“Look! You got Mike Bellotti
here, and there’s Phil Knight,” he
said.
Indeed they were, as the foot
ball coach and Nike CEO were lo
cated on side-to-side aisle seats in
the fourth row.
Knight, who usually sits court
side at the Pit in front of the stu
dent section, appeared tired but
ready to cheer.
Bellotti, who was sporting an
Oregon sweatshirt, noted that be
cause it was St. Patrick’s Day, the
luck of the Irish may be with the
green team.
“Everybody asked me this
morning if we were wearing
green to celebrate St. Patty’s day,”
he said, “and I said, ‘No, we’re
celebrating the Ducks! ’”
“This is pretty awesome,” Bel
lotti said. “Usually when I go
somewhere like this I have to
coach. So now I can take the boost
ers route and cheer the team on. ”
And cheer they did. All the
way down to the bitter end, in
which Seton Hall eliminated the
Ducks 72-71 in overtime.
Jerry Allen, who completed his
13 th season as “Voice of the
Ducks”, spoke glowingly about
the Oregon representation.
i uu miuw, ii a chi lading,
said. “A lot of folks came here, and
a number of them were from the
east. Some of the airline tickets
had to be just huge in such short
notice, but we had one of the best
followings of anybody here. ”
Allen took full notice of Bellot
ti, Knight and athletic director
Bill Moos.
“The football coach is out here
to support the program, and
they’re all going to try and fly
back right now to arrive in Eu
gene in time for the women’s
game,” Allen said.
(Sure enough, as I watched the
women’s first-round defeat on
ESPN2 in the wee hours of the
morning, a jet-lagged Knight was
shown many times with that
same green hat.)
Allen has been around sports
long enough to give advice to fel
low Duck fans on how to deal
with devastating play-off defeats.
“Through the years, I’ve
learned to look back right away at
some of the high moments,” he
said. “It’s kind of a mixture of sad
ness and elation at the same time.
It breaks your heart because I
know how much those players
wanted this game.
“But at the same time, Ernie’s
got this program at a level where
you can realistically say that
we’re going to come back soon
enough.”
But it was tough for people like
Mrs. Haliski and Mr. Deihl to
think much about the future im
mediately following the game.
Both stared at the celebrating Se
ton Hall players, and promptly
sank depressingly in their respec
tive seats.
Marsha Graham, wife of Ore
gon assistant Greg Graham,
summed it up best amid the de
jected —but still faithful — fans
around her.
“It was worth it,” she said with
a smile. “You’re not a die-hard
Ducks fan if you don’t think it’s
worth it.”
Jeff Smith is a sports reporter for the
Emerald. He can be reached via e-mail
atsmittside@aol.com.
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