GameDay: One Final Day in the Student Section

Trafton B.

November 7, 2010 - 7:23 PM

There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just go right ahead and say it. Yesterday - Saturday, November 6th 2010 - may very well have been the last time I'll watch a game at Autzen Stadium as a student.

It's shocking, I know. I haven't quite come to realize the momentousness of that statement, but it slowly sank in as the final second ticked off the clock. It was another standard 53-16 victory for the #1 Ducks, but it was meant so much more to me and the gang from McAlister Hall.

My alarm buzzed at 8:54 AM sharp; the Autzen faithful rise early on College Football Saturday. I rolled out of bed and immediately threw on my yellow spirit t-shirt; I went with the "Quack Out Loud" shirt this weekend. Not my favorite slogan, but I left my "Beat Washington" shirt in a friend's car on Friday night. Bad timing, I know.

Just because I could, I took the screen off my window and shimmied my way onto the roof outside my room. Far off in the distance you can make out the immortal Lighting Yellow "O" barely peaking above the morning fog on the south side of Autzen Stadium.

Downstairs my roommates were setting up for our morning GameDay routine; eggs, bacon and a stiff cup of coffee to jumpstart the engines. Normally, we'd take our time and watch a few clips from ESPN GameDay, but we hustled out the door to make sure we had plenty of time to tailgate friends and family.

The walk over the Willamette footbridge was as majestic as it was on four years ago when I first experienced it as a young, infantile freshman. Randy and Sue were waiting for us as always with big smiles and breakfast sausages. They'd missed the past two GameDays, so it was nice to seem them in Eugene again.

We all cracked jokes about this being the final time that McAlister would all be together at Autzen Stadium, each and every laugh was bitter sweet. It was the last time we'd all hear the announcer's booming voice bellow, "It never rains on Autzen Stadium," to a cheerful crowd of 60,000. It was the last time our legs would ache from refusing to sit down in the student section. It was the last time we'd yell the "Go" part of the "Go Ducks!" cheer before the game. Next time we'll be on the opposite side of the stadium.

In the second half, as the Ducks wore down Washington's defense and started to run up the score in typical fashion, Kate took me and some others over to her parents seats on the south side of the stadium. We watched the student section continue to cheer and jump at every chance to boo the Husky players, knowing in the back of our minds that we had yelled our last "O's" in Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8. After the game was over I snagged a souvenir from the seat in front of me, it was a Special Edition Sports Illustrated with photos of Oregon football greats Joey Harrington, Mel Renfro and Mark Asper on the cover.

Everyone met Randy and Sue back at the regular spot, space #5058, to celebrate another Duck victory. Three more wins and we could very well find ourselves in Glendale, Arizona on January 10, 2011 playing for the BCS National Championship...knock on wood.

We gave a toast to Randy and Sue, thanking them for four great seasons of tailgating at Autzen Stadium and assuring them that we would do them proud after graduating and eventually leading our own tailgates and trips back to Autzen Stadium. None of us wanted to leave though. I looked around and noticed that most cars had long since driven away, but the Cow Flag above the truck still flew high as we continued to reminisce about the good times we've shared over the past four years of Saturdays at Autzen Stadium.

In the words of Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." We've closed one chapter of our lives in Oregon Football, but there are still plenty more to be written. For one more season I'll say goodbye to Rich Brooks Field and I'll see you next time.

Go Ducks.