First off, I am way behind on updating this. Its turning into a nutty November - but enough on that.
Brian can do a better job explaining the game but here are some observations:
When Brian and I arrived in the Press Box Saturday, the first thing I noticed was - Lasagna, with bread and salad. It was perfect except for the absence of a paired wine!
One question - Why are so many people from Roseburg in Section 23? Odd.
While in the Lasgna line, an old friend from Portland spotted me. Had not seen him in nearly 20 years. He runs a media company and as it turns out, was part of the crew running Duck Vision at the game (the big screen). Very happy to see him again.
Brian put on some kind of women's gloves with 13:07 left in the 4th. Someone in the office let him borrow them (who borrows gloves.....??). They are uh stylish....uh yea Brian keep trying.
People began to leave in droves with 7:48 left in the 4th. Apparently a big winning margin and the extreme cold was getting to them. It was warmer in the press box, but still a bit chilly.
Brian chatted with the ASU mascot right before the end of the game. Should have got a picture of that. The Sun Devil is a weird looking dude. (or dudette!)
After the game we chatted with players and other media folks. I don' t think we got into the car until close to midnight.
Lots of folks peeled off at Cottage Grove for snacks. Brian had an AMP and Wheat Thins! Weird combo.
By the way, you never know who you will see at the snack stop in Cottage Grove. Several Roseburg folks, including one I won't name because he has the power to get me arrested or charged. (!!)
Walked in the house at 1:15am. Enjoyed a glass of the wine that I should have had with dinner, and called it a night.
Now - we wait for the Civil War!! GO DUCKS!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Oregon/USC
Wow what do you say about the Ducks incredible win over legendary USC!
Some notes from our time at Autzen:
While it may not rain at Autzen Stadium the parking lot is another matter. It took us 30 minutes longer than normal to actually get in the parking area. Our parking pass didn't help as the lots we could be in were full 2 hours before game time. (I told Brian we should have left sooner...) Given the rain and getting soaked, we bagged trying to find our KQEN listeners who had offered to let us stop by (they were pretty spread out....and we would have gotten wetter....whimps..) - but we did stumble across a few Roseburg folks on the way in anyway.
Upon entering the stadium we saw Basketball Coach Ernie Kent who saw Brian and greeted us. Looked like he had some recruits hanging out with him. We stopped by the Mo Center and watched ESPN radio for a bit and then headed for the press box. The ESPN TV crew actually had security shadowing them the whole game. That was a bit of a suprise. Brian ran into one of the ESPN TV guys during a break and greeted him.
I brought a decibel meter with me and saw a peak of 107 decibels from the pressbox and 106 from the turf. I think the best place to measure was probably the middle of the stands but wasn't able to do that. I see ESPN shows it high on their meter. Anyway you look at it, it was very loud and USC botched some starts due to the noise.
The media is normally allowed on the field the last four minutes, but given the atmosphere and the big victory, we were able to go down sooner. It became clear that security was ready for students to storm the field - and equally clear that there was NO way the kids would be stopped. Brian and I braced ourselves for the end of the game. The Oregon Duck stopped by and greeted us and I think Brian got a good picture of him. When the game ended, it took 5 seconds for the field to be stormed and filled with kids (and adults). I grabbed my mic and recording gear and hug on for dear life. I would bet there were a couple thousand people on the field - maybe more. I talked to a few kids and got audio, though it was soo loud, I doubt much of it will make the radio. then I spotted the KVAL TV guys with LaMichael James and got my mic up close. So many people were trying to get there, that at one point I was a bit nervous. Tom Ward from KVAL told me later he was trying to keep the crowds from bumping the camera. John Canzano from the Oregonian agreed that it seemed like the WHO concert. It was sooo tight in there it was way intense! I nearly lost my equipment bag at one point but made my way towards the tunnel after seeing a couple other players. Security was great and got me past the fans safely. Whew. By the tunnel I could breath again. Brian and I split up and got audio from as many people as we could. Eventually I settled in and watch some of Coach Kelly's radio interview, and noted a very happy Phil Knight from Nike, standing in the corner.
We headed out and began the long walk to the truck, and then endured the traffic for awhile before hitting I-5 and getting back to the Burg. When I got home and started looking at stats on-line I realized just how big a victory this was over USC. Incredible.
A fun day and one I will honestly never forget! Our apologies again for not making it to the tailgates. We are planning to do a better job with that - especially for Civil War.
Go DUCKS - and keep listening!
Some notes from our time at Autzen:
While it may not rain at Autzen Stadium the parking lot is another matter. It took us 30 minutes longer than normal to actually get in the parking area. Our parking pass didn't help as the lots we could be in were full 2 hours before game time. (I told Brian we should have left sooner...) Given the rain and getting soaked, we bagged trying to find our KQEN listeners who had offered to let us stop by (they were pretty spread out....and we would have gotten wetter....whimps..) - but we did stumble across a few Roseburg folks on the way in anyway.
Upon entering the stadium we saw Basketball Coach Ernie Kent who saw Brian and greeted us. Looked like he had some recruits hanging out with him. We stopped by the Mo Center and watched ESPN radio for a bit and then headed for the press box. The ESPN TV crew actually had security shadowing them the whole game. That was a bit of a suprise. Brian ran into one of the ESPN TV guys during a break and greeted him.
I brought a decibel meter with me and saw a peak of 107 decibels from the pressbox and 106 from the turf. I think the best place to measure was probably the middle of the stands but wasn't able to do that. I see ESPN shows it high on their meter. Anyway you look at it, it was very loud and USC botched some starts due to the noise.
The media is normally allowed on the field the last four minutes, but given the atmosphere and the big victory, we were able to go down sooner. It became clear that security was ready for students to storm the field - and equally clear that there was NO way the kids would be stopped. Brian and I braced ourselves for the end of the game. The Oregon Duck stopped by and greeted us and I think Brian got a good picture of him. When the game ended, it took 5 seconds for the field to be stormed and filled with kids (and adults). I grabbed my mic and recording gear and hug on for dear life. I would bet there were a couple thousand people on the field - maybe more. I talked to a few kids and got audio, though it was soo loud, I doubt much of it will make the radio. then I spotted the KVAL TV guys with LaMichael James and got my mic up close. So many people were trying to get there, that at one point I was a bit nervous. Tom Ward from KVAL told me later he was trying to keep the crowds from bumping the camera. John Canzano from the Oregonian agreed that it seemed like the WHO concert. It was sooo tight in there it was way intense! I nearly lost my equipment bag at one point but made my way towards the tunnel after seeing a couple other players. Security was great and got me past the fans safely. Whew. By the tunnel I could breath again. Brian and I split up and got audio from as many people as we could. Eventually I settled in and watch some of Coach Kelly's radio interview, and noted a very happy Phil Knight from Nike, standing in the corner.
We headed out and began the long walk to the truck, and then endured the traffic for awhile before hitting I-5 and getting back to the Burg. When I got home and started looking at stats on-line I realized just how big a victory this was over USC. Incredible.
A fun day and one I will honestly never forget! Our apologies again for not making it to the tailgates. We are planning to do a better job with that - especially for Civil War.
Go DUCKS - and keep listening!
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