Seldom before has an entire nation focused so much attention for five weeks on a sports team from the Pacific Northwest. That’s what made the Oregon Ducks’ participation in Monday night’s Bowl Championship Series football game so enjoyable for this corner of the country.
The sheer magnitude of that spotlight (illuminating, let’s face it, a mere game) provided refreshing relief for Americans who find themselves polarized in so many ways these days. Even for people who harbor neither affinity nor animus for Oregon or Auburn, for the uncommitted but curious, countless TV screens served up a masterpiece. Viewers for a few hours turned away from more divisive news and shared the unifying force of excellence, manifested in two unbeaten teams that even on the next-to-last play of the game stood deadlocked at 19 points each.
Regardless of how you feel about Oregon or Auburn, you’ve got to admit that was one great football game, eh? Settled convincingly was any debate about whether either team or both really belonged in the BCS championship. Out of mind for one evening were pundits and pontificators. Americans teed up a football and told a bunch of young men: “We’re done arguing. Here. You decide it.”
It’s uncertain which faction might qualify as the Ducks’ worst enemy. We suspect it would be the Beavers or the Huskies. But it’s doubtful that their disdain for aquatic fowl kept them from watching, if only to root against Oregon. And the day after the game, with the posting of the final college football rankings, the most scathing condemnation of Oregon was countered by the fact that it was ranked No. 3 in the country.
Was this game the biggest sports event in Oregon history? Many would argue that the Portland Trail Blazers’ NBA championship in 1977 still holds that distinction. And then there were national football titles by the Huskies in the early 1990s. But this was a huge five-week national sports spotlight on Oregon. In Glendale, Ariz., tickets sold on the secondary market for many thousands of dollars each. And the national TV audience was kept enthralled until the game’s final horn.
Of course, the Ducks weren’t the only football team making this an exciting season in the Northwest. The Huskies have rediscovered the magic after moving from an 0-12 record to a 5-7 mark in 2009, and then finished 7-6 in this most recent season, capped by a stunning upset of powerful Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. Beyond the victories, the UW’s football fans are plenty pumped about the upcoming renovation of Husky Stadium.
And at the professional level, Seattle’s Seahawks somehow found a way to win their NFC West Division, then upended the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints Saturday at Qwest Field. This startling turnaround had a seismic impact … literally. The director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says a monitoring station about 100 yards west of the stadium showed increased activity during Marshawn Lynch’s 67-yard touchdown run late in the game.
Football definitely is on a comeback in the Northwest. We won’t go so far as to suggest this region can match the fever in football hotbeds such as the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest. But this certainly has been a fun and memorable season. And with all the negativity running through our minds these days, it’s good to have a pleasant diversion. Look at it this way: Lots of Northwesterners were yelling at their TV screens Monday night. But this time, for the most part, until the last second, they were happy.
