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A TIME LONG AGO AT A HIGH SCHOOL FAR FAR AWAY

North Bend Oregon High School, class of 1973. What’s so special?   Like later generations staking their claims to, ‘the first digital generation’ or ‘the first paperless generation’ or ‘the first generation raised on video games,’ the generational niche of 1973 is ‘the first modern generation.’   Born of the roaring ’50’s with TV dinners […]

American Football Matters More Now Than Ever Before

    American football players at every level are our betters. From Pop Warner to the NFL they show us how to get up after being knocked down, how to play after a painful hit, and how to listen.   Even with helmets and pads and identifying uniforms, American football is a hurting game. Helmet […]

DEADSPIN’S ‘WHY YOUR TEAM SUCKS’ IS NO WAY TO LEARN ABOUT ARIZONA

  Arizona is a lovely place. A little warmer than most, but still worth a visit. Deadspin’s annual take down of every team in the NFL paints a different picture. It’s supposed to be funny and sports related, something the rest of the world finds confusing. Football isn’t a world sport like soccer, like basketball. […]

EVERY SCRUB ATHLETE HAS THIS STORY

    If you’ve got one, then you’re a scrub athlete. And that’s not a bad thing.   Talking to college stars and professional athletes, one thing stands out: They’ve played a lot of games. Far too many for one moment to stand above the rest. Ask if they remember one game, one opponent, that […]

HOW MANY WINNING SUPER BOWLS TO FINISH FOOTBALL

    Winning Super Bowls make history every year, like this year’s comeback. And it’s still not enough.   Hardly anyone argues that Tom Brady isn’t the best ever. Better than Joe and Terry with their handful of rings and MVP gear. You’ve got to give it to him. Others say he’s the best of […]

OREGON DUCKS vs COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S BIGGEST LOSERS

Any team the Oregon Ducks lost big games to qualify for this homer.   Oregon Ducks vs Auburn, 2010. All these years later it feels like it’s time to move on from 2010, to get on with new teams and new eras. Not for this Duck fan. Like the alleged Russian hack of the 2016 […]

COACHES CHANGE PEOPLE, PLAYERS CHANGE COACHES

    Sports works best when coaches change people for the better. A coach new to youth football talks about fun. “Football is fun, but more fun when you win,” he says. The new coach played high school football on a championship team. He knew winning. Coaches change people from ordinary to extraordinary in the […]

NORTH BEND BULLDOGS WIN BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL

A win for North Bend Bulldogs reaches across decades. A hundred years from now North Bend Bulldogs will remember the first football championship. Two guys more than forty years out of uniform explain: “This is a big deal?” “A huge deal. Yes. That big.”

UNDERDOG OREGON FOOTBALL THEORY

  Underdog Beavers beat underdog Oregon football. The theory of underdog Oregon football goes like this: We all like underdogs until your team loses to one. It’s hard on players, fans, boosters, but not the other team.

THE ELEVEN TIGERS OF 6A FOOTBALL

The 6A Football Semi-Final. “Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.” That was Grantland Rice in 1924 writing about college football. “In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of […]