Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, October 24,2002
-QregcnDaily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
MLB World Series:
Anaheim at San Francisco
5 p.m., FOX
Drunk Ducks
ruin contests
for sober fans
As we passed groups of people walking down Kin
srow Avenue to the football game Saturday, my
roommate and I noticed a group of guys walking
down the street with open beers in hand.
“What are they thinking? 10 a.m. is way to early
to be drinking,” my roommate said, astonished
that anyone would actually have started drinking
this early in the day.
I laughed at her bewilder
ment and reminded her how
much of the student section is
drunk by halftime. We
laughed at memories of drunk
students doing funny things
last season as she dropped me
off and went to work.
During the football game
Saturday afternoon, my
friend Karen and I sat in one
of the front rows of the stu
dent section. Toward the end
of the second quarter, four fe
male students sat down behind us.
The worst part was that we could smell them be
fore we saw them. It didn’t help matters that they
left an empty bottle of whatever alcohol they had
taken shots of before they found seats on the
ground below our bench.
They were overly friendly to the extent of being
annoying and by halftime the only things I could
smell was their alcohol and the marijuana some
guy across the aisle was smoking.
The group of four left shortly after halftime start
ed, and the pot-smoker disappeared about the
same time. For a while, we could breathe easy.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, two of the
four females and two male friends returned to the
seats behind Karen and I.
It appeared they had found some more alcohol
while they were gone, because they came back
smelling stronger than before. They were also quite
a bit more belligerent than they had been during
the first half.
In the eight football games I have attended dur
ing my two previous football seasons as an Oregon
student, I was never once bothered by the drunk
people. They keep to themselves and their drunk
friends — I watch the game.
This line was crossed during the fourth quarter
Saturday when, after one particularly pitiful down
by the Ducks, I swore a bit and hung my head. I
was tired of watching the downfall that was so obvi
ously in the very near future.
One of the drunk females put her hand on my
shoulder and told me not to be sad, the Ducks
would be okay, and then turned back to her male
friends who were talking loudly and quite disgust
ingly about the multiple females in their view.
I didn’t turn around and ask why she felt the
need to tell me it would be okay. I just kind of half
smiled and exchanged looks with Karen.
Football games shouldn’t be remembered for the
drunk, falling-over student section. Football games,
from a fan viewpoint, are about cheering your team
on with friends. Football games are where you can
show your Duck spirit and Eugene pride, and
scream as loudly as your heart desires.
The student section, or any part of the football
stadium’s seating, is not the place to bring leftover
jungle-juice or that fifth of vodka no one finished
Friday night.
There are many students who have children and
bring them to the games. They sit in the student
section and the little ones learn how to differentiate
the smell of beer from vodka by their 10th birth
day. It is quite an example to set for them.
If drinks are necessary for watching the game, then
why watch the game? There are students who would
take a ticket if they could get one and watch the game
— sober — instead of taking up a seat and polluting
the fresh air the other fans need to breathe.
Mindi
Rice
The girl
and the game
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer for the Emerald.
Man of Troy
Oregon native Troy Polamalu
is the star of a surging USC defense
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
He is a traditional player in a traditional
program. A hard-nosed guy on a team that
practically invented the phrase.
For the men of Troy, he is Troy, the man.
Southern California safety Troy Pola
malu, the only player from Oregon on the
90-something strong USC roster, epito
mizes the Trojans’ rugged defense this sea
son. After missing games against Washing
ton State and California, Polamalu
returned with a passion against Washing
ton on Saturday, recording five tackles, one
pass deflection and an interception against
the Huskies.
And on Saturday, Polamalu will come
back home. The senior from Winston,
Ore., is perhaps the best Oregon product in
the Pacific-10 conference. He’s surely the
most fearsome.
“He is a tremendous football player and
it shows in every phase of the game,” USC
head coach Pete Carroll said.
Versatility is Polamalu’s biggest strength.
In 2001 he blocked three punts, ran back
two interceptions for touchdowns and led
the team with 118 tackles. He finished sec
ond in the Pac-10 in tackles per game, but
also ran back two punt returns for more
than 27 yards each.
He is fast, strong, and all over the field.
“All I can say is wow,” Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said about Polamalu
and his cohorts in the USC secondary.
“They have amazing make-up speed and
they’ll hit you and it is so impressive. USC
is playing with a different attitude and that
has made them a better team.”
Polamalu’s attitude has always been that
of a true football player, the same kind of
attitude that many Oregon-resident Ducks
adopt. Plus, a little bit of Samoan blood
never hurts.
Courtesy USC Media Services
Troy Polamalu (43) is a true Trojan, and has led USC to the top of the Pac-10 defensive standings.
“I’ve developed the Samoan mentality,” play like it’s a game of life. Give it everv
Polamalu said. “You have to be a gendeman thing you have.”
everywhere but on the field. On the field, Turn to Troy, page 14
Garbin’s injury still hurts for Ducks
Adam Amato Emerald
Forward Nicole Garbin was Oregon's top returning scorer from 2001,
but an ACL injury has forced her to sit out until next season.
Sophomore Nicole Garbin
finds herself in a new role,
watching from the sidelines
Soccer notes
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Sophomore forward Nicole Garbin
knows the meaning of patience all
too well.
Webster’s New World Dictionary
describes it as “the capacity or
habit of enduring adversity or pain
with fortitude.”
Enduring the pain of an anterior
cruciate ligament injury and the ad
versity of standing on the sideline
are what Garbin has had to deal
with since the night of Aug. 22.
It all happened that afternoon,
during a normal day of practice
when she turned wrong, and, in her
words “it just snapped.”
Garbin’s injury has forced her to
redshirt this season, and losing the
team’s top returning scorer from
2001 hasn’t made things easy on
the Ducks.
“It’s been difficult at times,”
Garbin said. “I was just looking so
forward to this season and playing
with this freshman class.”
With 13 freshmen, the Ducks
could use Garbin’s offensive pres
ence and experience; especially
now, as Oregon is off to a 1-10-2
start without a win in Pacific-10
Conference play.
Last year, Garbin helped the Ducks
to a 5-1-1 start and set a school record
with four game-winning goals. The
Wailuku, Hawaii native paced the
team in assists with five and ranked
second in goals with live.
“I’m learning that if I was in
there then I feel like this whole sea
son would be different,” Garbin
said. “I feel like we wouldn’t be los
ing as many games. We wouldn’t be
struggling emotionally as much as
well as physically.”
Garbin has gone from being in the
thick of the season to being an out
sider looking in, and for her, it has
been an eye-opening experience.
“I just keep learning each day of
just how appreciative I have to be of
being able to play, and that onee I
start playing again that I just have to
give everything into it and not let
down,” Garbin said.
Unfortunately for Garbin, she
won’t be able to play competitively
until next season for Oregon, as her
injury will keep her on the sideline
for the rest of this season.
As of now, the sophomore, who
Turn to Soccer, page 16