I grew up in Eugene, so the Ducks were always present in some way, although I was more of a basketball fan. During the ’74-’75 season my walls were covered with posters of the “Kamikaze Kids.” Football games were freezing bores I had to sit through with my parents. I was only an official Duck long enough to get put on Academic Probation, and was then forced to leave for two semesters, which I spent on and off at the ridiculous Arizona State University. At the time a 1.7 GPA was all that as required to attend.
Facebook reunited me with so many of my high school classmates, and my Ducks nostalgia was revived. But it wasn’t until last season, when the Ducks were so fucking great, that I began watching games again. This past spring, however, we moved to a house in the suburbs, right across the street from a couple that can only be described as the Barbie and Ken of Husky Fans. During our introduction they scoffed at the “O” on the rear window of my car (RUDE!), offered my toddlers sidewalk chalk only if they chose UW purple and yellow (RUDER!), and from that moment IT WAS ON.
Now, anyone will tell you I can surely rub things in. Throughout the season I dressed my boy in U of O gear. (Though never on game day, because I’m superstitious like my father that way.) The day after the Ducks qualified for the Rose Bowl, as we were getting ready to put up Christmas lights, I couldn’t decide between using nothing but green and yellow bulbs, or incorporating a big yellow O above the door. I settled for traditional multicolored, but the tree in the front yard is strung with twinkling green lights. My silent, but obvious sign of the Ducks’ victory. And a big middle finger to Husky Fan Barbie and Ken.
– Kathleen Wilson is a writer living and raising children in the Seattle area. She is the former music editor of Seattle alternative weekly, The Stranger.
