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Oregon Daily Emerald346-37} 2
It’s not quite a sports symphony,
but blame it on the conductor
Welcome to Mr. Hockaday’s Opus.
Unlike Richard Dreyfus, I’m not
trying to make anyone cry here.
Oh goodness. He started the col
umn with a “Mr. Holland’s Opus”
reference. It’s going to be brutal.
So this is my
last issue as
Sports Editor
(The dam has
opened. Here
come the wa
terworks) but
not my last is
sue at the
Emerald. I’m
coming back
next year.
They’ll have to
pry this key
board from my
cold, dead fin
gers someday.
I’m doing commentary (ha!) for the
opinion page (double ha!) as an I
need-to-study maneuver. I’m going
to do my best not to write about
sports next year, but it might be
tough.
I mean, I love sports. I love sports
more than breathing, and I really
like breathing. I love sports so
much, I want to devote my life to
writing about it. I want to live in that
sports world like so many people al
ready do.
Isn’t that so weird? What are
sports, really? Games. Grown men
playing kids’ games and people like
me taking it way too seriously.
And yet, there’s something about
it. Something that makes people
reach for the sports page before the
community section.
Peter
Hockaday
TWo minutes for
crosschecking
I’ve heard this before...
I know. But darn it, it’s my opus.
They didn’t tell Richard Dreyfus to
stop composing, did they? What
would’ve happened if they’d told
Mozart to stop composing stuff?
Huh? And yes, I did just compare
myself to Mozart.
Like Jell-O that’s been in the
fridge for a while, my love for sports
has only solidified in four years of
doing this job. Why? Because of the
Duck. Because of the athletes. Be
cause of the motorcycle speeding
onto the field before football games.
Because of Hayward Field and Mac
Court and Autzen Stadium.
I love Nike U., where the students’
drinking motto is “Just Do It” and
wearing Adidas is like worshipping
the Devil. Where we have the Knight
Law School and Knight Library and
visitors ask “Who is this Mr. Knight?”
and we respond “He is The One.”
But there’s more to it than that.
Duck athletics is like a big alumni
club. For years, we’ll have that con
nection with other Oregon alumni.
People will say “Do you remember
Joey Harrington?” “Remember
Luke Ridnour?”
This experience was much more
than Joey and the Lukes. There were
Prefontaine Classics and soccer
matches under the lights at Pape Field.
There were Duck flags flying from cars.
There was the rush of students as the
doors opened at Mac Court.
This is what I’ll remember from
my time here. I’ll remember stand
ing in line for eight hours to get Civil
War tickets. I’ll remember Freddie
Jones’ dunks and Maurice Morris’
incredible logic-defying run in the
Fiesta Bowl. I’ll remember driving
all night to Los Angeles to cover a
game at the Rose Bowl and being
eternally happy I did. I’ll remember
the walk across the river to Autzen
Stadium. I’ll remember huddling
under the rain at Hayward Field
track meets, interviewing athletes
that were just so happy to be there
they might as well have been in the
Bahamas.
I’ll remember Nashville, Tenn.,
and Madison, Wise., the equally
thrilling feeling after a win over
Texas and a loss to Utah. I’ll remem
ber Pullman, Wash., and Corvallis.
Arizona and San Francisco. I’ll re
member the Pac-10. Is there a con
ference that more defines its region
than the Pac-10?
And I’ll remember the people. A
lot has been written about Tom
Heinonen, but I’ll always remember
sitting in his office as a scared-piss
less sophomore, saying “Honestly, I
know nothing about track and field.
Nothing.” And him responding
“That’s fine. Let’s start with the
scoring meets..I’ll remember the
beaming faces of Micah Harris and
Kevin Mitchell, the honesty of Jason
Fife and the tenacity of Chalise
Baysa.
Oh, goodness. That’s enough. If
I’ve still got you, I’m amazed. Like a
symphony, this column was long
and jumbled, often boring and not
well-conducted. But it’s my opus,
dang it. And now I’ll stop crying.
Contact the sports editor at
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com. His
views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Men's
continued from page 19
board. Behind the two stars, the
highest-ranked Oregon athletes
heading into the meet are Samie
Parker (ranked sixth in the 100),
Eric Logsdon (seventh in the 5,000
meter race) and Adam Kriz (sev
enth in the hammer). The top eight
positions in every event score points
for the team, on a sliding scale from
first through eighth.
Trevor Woods (ninth in the pole
vault), Hartmann (11th in the
10,000) and Mitchum (16th in the
110-meter hurdles) are knocking
on the scoring-spots door. Hart
mann has a reputation as a big
meet runner, and Woods has been
working all season on technique
that could take him over greater
heights in the vault.
“You get to the playoffs or post
season in any sport, the adrenaline
kicks in,” Woods said. “In the
vault, if you can control it right,
that’s when you’ll start getting on
some poles you might not normal
ly get on, which lets you clear
I
higher heights.”
After the almost-scorers, there’s
a handful of Ducks who will need
supreme efforts to score points at
the national meet. But Brett Holts
(21st in the steeplechase), Ryan
Andrus (22nd in the 10,000), Jor
dan Kent (24th in the 200), Matt
Scherer (25th in the 400), Bran
don Holliday (25th in the 400 hur
dles) and the 4x400 team (made
up of Kent, Holliday, Scherer and
Travis Anderson, ranked 18th)
have an outside chance to score at
the meet.
The Ducks may or may not
benefit from increased amounts
of qualifying at the NGAAs this
year. Because of a new regional
meet system this year, more ath
letes than ever are making the
trip to Sacramento for the NCAA
Championships. With the region
al-meet system, the top five fin
ishers in every event automati
cally qualify for NCAAs and then
a national committee adds an
other 6-8 athletes from the na
tional list.
So that means for the first time
ever, field-event athletes will face
qualifying rounds similar to
sprinters. Woods, for example, has
a qualifying round in the pole
vault on Wednesday, then has fi
nals on Friday if he makes it there.
Sprinters, as well, have three
rounds of qualifying this year in
stead of two.
The first Ducks will start compe
tition on Wednesday. Almost every
Duck will be in action, starting
with Parker’s 100 preliminaries at
10:45 a.m. and ending with Logs
don’s 5,000 qualifier at 10 p.m.
The only Ducks not in action
Wednesday will be Andrus and
Hartmann, who run the 10,000 at
9:40 p.m. on Thursday.
If all goes well for the Ducks,
three athletes and one relay team
could still be running Saturday, the
final day of the meet. Mitchum’s 110
hurdles finals are set for Saturday
evening, as are Kent’s 200 finals,
Logsdon’s 5,000 final and the finals
for the 4x400 relay.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
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