Male Bonding

Today was Fan Day at the Oregon Ducks' indoor training facility and I decided to take The Little Man with me for some good ol' male bonding. I didn't think it would be too crowded, but it felt like the whole town showed up. There were long lines for everything both inside and outside the building. That's okay, we love our Ducks!

Meeting The Duck. The Little Man was fascinated with him.

They gave The Little Man a duck of his own. He loves this thing!

We also got to meet head football coach Chip Kelly. He was kind enough to pose in a picture with us, but I had some stranger take it and it didn't turn out that good. Oh well. Then, The Little Man got the attention of some girls...

The ONLY reason he looks upset is because he thought there would be more cheerleaders to pose with him.

In summary: Drew high-fived the head coach and flirted with cheerleaders. It was a proud day for me.

Gameday

I had an awesome Halloween and it didn't have anything to do with costumes, candy or those scary Scooby-Doo shows but it had everything to do with college football.

ESPN's weekly TV show College Gameday came to Eugene for a live broadcast (because of the Oregon-USC game) and a co-worker and I were lucky enough to score a pair of VIP passes through our employer. These passes enabled us to hang out "backstage" and do such things as watch the broadcast from behind the cameras, meet The Duck (as seen in the pic above), eat whatever food we wanted, wander around, get on the Gameday bus, and most importantly, go on the set and meet the Gameday crew. I had such a great time! It was fun to do all of this and experience the energy of the crowd that gathered for the 7 a.m. broadcast. There were so many creative and wacky signs that people were waving in the audience. It was thrilling to be a part of it.

The crowd was rowdy even before sunrise


The Gameday crew doing their thing


On the Gameday set with Desmond, Kirk, and some random guy

Later that evening, I was fortunate to attend the Oregon-USC game. I had a feeling it was going to be a good game, but I was wrong. It was a freakin' awesome game! The Ducks destroyed the Trojans 47-20! To put some perspective into this, it was the worse loss USC has had this decade. Being the Ducks fan that I am, it was the best regular season college football game I've ever been to.

This Halloween was one of the best experiences of my life (so far). What a day!

Good times at Autzen Stadium! (I love this pic)

I need to mention that Angie was such a great wife to wake up at 5:30 a.m., make breakfast for my co-worker and I, then drop us off at the stadium for College Gameday (as well as pick us up). All of this she volunteered to do without me asking. Thank you so much, Ang! I love you!

Ducks games

Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to score a pair of tickets to the Oregon-Cal game right before kickoff! I love going to Ducks games, so my excitement level of getting tickets to this game was comparable to that a little kid getting a puppy for Christmas.
I was going to take Ang with me, but it worked out better for me to take my home boy Blake, instead. The seats were in the student section and we got there a few minutes late, so it was obvious that we would have to stand the whole time (if we were lucky enough to find the space). I have progressed enough in my physical therapy to where I can now walk with a cane (and feel much older in the process), but I still can't stand longer than 15 minutes at a time. Thanks to Blake's smooth skills, we were able to convince security to let us sit in the "patio" at the top of the student section, which is reserved for people with disabilities. We had plenty of space, actual seats to sit in, and no one blocking our view in front of us. Perfect seats!
{Blake and I in our "box" seats}

Possibly one of the most exciting football games I've ever attended. The Ducks destroyed #6 Cal by a score of 42-3! Go Ducks!
{The Ducks in action}

{The Duck was crowd surfing all the way up the stands}

I got quite the sunburn from being at this game. Oh well, it was worth it!