[Hulk01]

Each year, Stanford fans would love to beat the toughest teams on the schedule and the games that attract national attention.  For that reason alone, Oregon has become a big game.

But if Oregon ever flags, no one here will care.  We will want to win every game and particularly those games with the highest profiles.  If that's Oregon, great.  But it could as easily be Colorado, Washington (whose fans we dislike/loathe), or Arizona.

USC always will matter.  Cal will matter to many fans and not at all to others.  UCLA will matter a lot and in proportion to their success in that year. 

There is nothing aspirational about Oregon football or the school to any Stanford student, graduate, or fan.  Some at Stanford are merely neutra on this subject.  Others, and particularly those who recall the obscene incidents involving Kevin Love and Damon Stoudamire,  feel more strongly.  The handful of us who recall the incidents involving Kevin's dad, Dick Harter, and Mark Barwig and their mauling of UCLA feel even less regard for the school--a school that I once attended.

I continue to have dozens of friends at the school.  I like them all and love several.  It is revealing that several of them are more dismissive of the team's football program than I am.  Oregon's coaches and players have made enemies within and without. 

Perhaps the new group will be better.  But if that is the case, the Wlllie Lyles and Cole Lyerla episodes certainly don't suggest that.

At least to me, Oregon represents little more than Phil Knight's successful effort to bring national class college sports to his beloved state.  He has succeeded but perhaps not in all the ways that he wished and hoped.  Oregon wins but it seems to come at a price, most notably the value of its own reputation.  I hope they one day start playing college football again instead of their version of professional football.  But they tried that and failed, so I suspect the mess is here to stay. 

[Hulk01]

Each year, Stanford fans would love to beat the toughest teams on the schedule and the games that attract national attention.  For that reason alone, Oregon has become a big game.

But if Oregon ever flags, no one here will care.  We will want to win every game and particularly those games with the highest profiles.  If that's Oregon, great.  But it could as easily be Colorado, Washington (whose fans we dislike/loathe), or Arizona.

USC always will matter.  Cal will matter to many fans and not at all to others.  UCLA will matter a lot and in proportion to their success in that year. 

There is nothing aspirational about Oregon football or the school to any Stanford student, graduate, or fan.  Some at Stanford are merely neutra on this subject.  Others, and particularly those who recall the obscene incidents involving Kevin Love and Damon Stoudamire,  feel more strongly.  The handful of us who recall the incidents involving Kevin's dad, Dick Harter, and Mark Barwig and their mauling of UCLA feel even less regard for the school--a school that I once attended.

I continue to have dozens of friends at the school.  I like them all and love several.  It is revealing that several of them are more dismissive of the team's football program than I am.  Oregon's coaches and players have made enemies within and without. 

Perhaps the new group will be better.  But if that is the case, the Wlllie Lyles and Cole Lyerla episodes certainly don't suggest that.

At least to me, Oregon represents little more than Phil Knight's successful effort to bring national class college sports to his beloved state.  He has succeeded but perhaps not in all the ways that he wished and hoped.  Oregon wins but it seems to come at a price, most notably the value of its own reputation.  I hope they one day start playing college football again instead of their version of professional football.  But they tried that and failed, so I suspect the mess is here to stay.