Greetings, spotrs-ites!

Looks like I actually wrote something that actually raised somebody's ire. This person shall remain nameless, although I do know who it is. Let's see what they had to say, and then I'll add my responses as I go.

A quick note: If you ever want some cheap entertainment, just head to the Lane County Ice Arena for a Eugene Thunder game. These guys are all teenagers, but they play their asses off. Actually, I watch my brother playing one of the coed leagues, and even those are enjoyable. Thunder games are only 4 bucks, and the others are free.

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Aw, how young you are Big Pee.

Okay, let's not resort to that already. I'll bet the next thing he'll say is that I have a limp dick or something.

Yes you are right, there are some Beaver fans that are hardcore and like them through the good and the bad. I am even willing to admit that there are many fair-weather Beaver fans, and trust me I know there are many.

Hey, that's exactly what my point was. There are always loyalists, but there just seems to be a LOT of fair-weather fans.

But you are apparently too young to remember

Hey, you're only a year older than me, chief :)

that the Ducks have had their equal, yes equal, amount of fair weather fans.

I don't know about an "equal" amount, but I know that there are quite a few, at least.

I believe the state of Oregon is plagued by these poor excuses for sports fans. Remember how many people jumped off the Blazer wagon when they weren't going deep into the playoffs, yet they still made the playoffs.

Hey, I completely forgot about the Blazers. Good point. In fact, although it is highly unlikely that the Blazers will win the title this year, if they do, I'm sure people will be jumping right back on again.

My point is that unfortunately the Ducks have been on a hot streak in football and lately basketball, but before that there crowds and fan-base weren't too large and definitely not too loyal.

I'm not saying that the Ducks have always drawn sellouts for the last 20 years. But they were drawing quite a bit better than OSU, even before this latest wave of success.

Also, trust me, everyone in the heart of Beaver Nation (Corvallis) knows that the Gymnasts are doing well, they just upset number one UCLA. We also know that our wrestlers are a perennial Pac-10 contender and our softball team can hang with anyone in the land, even UCLA and Arizona.

Yeah, but that kind of stuff never comes up in conversations outside of Corvallis, though. I guess I'd almost have to liken that to the UO track program, although I think it's somewhat more well known outside of Eugene. But if it wasn't for Prefontaine, I don't know where they'd be. I know visibility is important, but everyone just seems to only make a big deal about football...

Nice column, but don't forget.

Thanks, and I think that will be the last time I pick on the Beavs for a while. Like I think I said, I'm glad for their successes, but don't become delirious over a "winning tradition" of 3 years. There's a lot of other good stuff going on down there that people should take more pride in.

So there you have it. If anybody has any additional commentary on the issue, I'm not a hard guy to find :)

-D