Being part of Beaver Nation

This is going to divide the very few followers of this blog, but I'm going to make this statement up front.

Tomorrow, I root for the Beavers. Which means I root against the Ducks.


Which frankly should impress you all because that means I am actually, for once, rooting for a team based in Oregon. That said, I have no real choice. They're playing each other.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the Civil War, which is more brutal than usual because the winner heads to the Rose Bowl to get beaten by Ohio State:

I think Oregon will probably win. I think it will be close. And I think that once again, at the close of the season, Oregon Ducks fans (if their team comes out of the Civil War on top) will be insufferable yet again. And so I choose to root for the Beavers, because one thing I enjoy about them is that they're always just kind of surprised and happy to be involved. That's what sucking really hard for a long time will do for a program: it teaches humility.

Several other reasons that I've chosen to root for OSU: survival. There are way more Beaver fans in Bend than Ducks. And the Beaver, I believe, is a more fierce mascot than the Duck.

Also, this, which offends me to my core: I Love My Ducks

Seriously. That may have pushed me over the edge.

Anyway, I hope if nothing else it's a close, well-played game. I also hope it gets a little chippy. And I particularly hope that LaGarrette gets a little playing time. Just for the fun of it. So his stat line won't say -5 yards for the entire season.

***

In other news, Charlie Weis got fired the other day. I was surprised it didn't happen on Sunday (although that's the Lord's Day, so I shouldn't be too shocked).

Notre Dame has a challenge on its hands, because it must find someone who wants the job, but who can also do the job. It's a bit harder than pulling a bunch of clowns out of junior college like they do at Boise State (and, ahem, Oregon). Unlike most schools in the country, most of these boys are actually expected to go to class and graduate. Oh and win games, which has been much more of a challenge than the graduation rate in the past few years. And by few I mean like 18.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if the Irish go to a bowl game. I would like them to just so I get another chance to see Jimmy Clausen throw to Michael Floyd for 400 yards. Because I'm pretty sure that depending on who they pick to take over as coach, Clausen is going to bust out of there a year early.

Maybe Duke's got another point guard it will be willing to give up to the Irish? Scheyer? You interested? Because your predecessor's been very successful at Syracuse (4-8, with 14 interceptions and 13 touchdowns).

Oh, and Bobby Bowden retired, which I'm pretty sure every Florida State fan is secretly thankful for even if they won't admit it. I should point out the man appears to be completely off his rocker. I don't think he's known the names of his players for years now. He probably thought he'd already retired.

Now if they could just get rid of Joe Paterno at Penn State.