Homecoming Weekend

David R.

November 14, 2009 - 10:58 AM

Homecoming at the University of Oregon is always a fun-filled weekend. There is always a home football game, but this weekend is much more than that, as Eugene is full of many parents who haven't seen their sons or daughters since September. Homecoming weekend gives parents a chance to come visit their students and take a look at campus life at Oregon.

The festivities begin on friday afternoon with a parade. The parade follows a path that is intertwined throughout the campus, wrapping around the dorms and finishing by the EMU. The parade consists of a bundle of floats that are constructed throughout the week. Many of the fraternities and sororities partner up to create a float, and determine a theme for it. The parade itself isn't themed, so it is up to each float to establish a theme for itself. This year our theme was disco fever. We decorated our float with fake disco balls, spray paint, and lots of shiny material to give our float a disco feel. Everyone on the float was responsible for dressing as disco as possible. Tight pants and flashy accessories were a popular choice.

No two floats are the same. Some simply decorate their cars, while others go as far as pulling a trailer behind a truck. We went with option B considering how many people were going to be on it. One of the guys in our house happened to have a trailer at his house in nearby Junction City, while another had a large truck, hemi equipped of course, to pull the trailer with all of us on in. We were even able to hook up a sound system on our float, by means of a gigantic generator, which enabled us to blast disco music as we drove around.

Many people gather for the annual tradition. Many parents and residents of Eugene line the sidewalks on both sides along the path where the parade takes place. At the culmination of the parade, sitting in the EMU is the marching band and the Oregon cheerleaders. The band plays, and cheerleaders lead the gathered crowd in chants and cheers to get everyone excited for the big game.

The grand finale of the weekend is the football game beginning at 7:30 tonight. This year the Ducks take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. As the Sun Devils happen to be struggling this season, the last time they made a visit to Autzen they were undefeated at eight and zero, and they had worked their way up to be number five in the nation. The Ducks were able to win, but those who watched also know that this was the same game that Oregon great Dennis Dixon sustained his knee injury, which eventually led the Ducks to fall out of national title contention.

This year our Ducks seek to avenge last week's loss in Palo Alto, doing so without losing a quarterback. The Ducks are currently number 13, still holding on to a chance to make a visit to the Rose Bowl.

Homecoming weekend is always a great time, and truly one of the best weekends of the fall term.