PSA: This is the exact same post as the one that ❌as emailed out, just ❌ith ❌s.
Happy Friday, and a Merry Husky Hate ❌eek to all ❌ho observe this ❌onderful extended holiday.
Some may think that this Hate ❌eek is half over, but I think it’s only half begun.
❌e all know that this is going to be a special kind of Oregon-❌ashington game.
It’s the first time these t❌o teams ❌ill face off in a top ten matchup, it serves as the perfect platform for either teams’ September-Heisman QB to separate himself, and it also happens to be the final season of the Pac-12.
Oh, and the Coug/Beav-hating College Gameday cre❌ might be there. And they might do the sho❌ from a boat.
There ❌ill be plenty of time to talk about the X’s and O’s of ❌hat I’m calling The Game of The Century, but those are just some of the juicy storylines.
But contrary to popular belief, football isn’t actually about football—especially not during Hate ❌eek.
It’s a special ❌eek (or t❌o) out of every year ❌here all logic should be thro❌n out the ❌indo❌ in favor of a blinding hatred for that team up north.
I think ❌e all kno❌ ❌hy ❌e hate the Huskies (or ❌hy some of you might hate the Ducks!) but in case ❌e forgot, let’s take today to revie❌:
For most of history, those doogs spat do❌n at us from their ivory, space needle-shaped towers.
They kicked our asses, and every now-and-then they’d dangle a victory in front of our faces, just to thro❌ bread crumbs and popcorn at us instead.
They thought it ❌ould always be that ❌ay.
And like most of history, the chumps that “thought it ❌ould always be that ❌ay” got hit in the mouth, usurped, and cried fo❌l.
Some❌here around 1994, things changed.
❌e started getting a little cash from a generous and ne❌ly-interested uncle, and ❌ashington ❌as reeling from a couple of recruiting sanctions (the ❌ay they talk about it you’d think they ❌ere given the SMU death penalty, but they ❌eren’t).
Some U❌ fans also claim that Oregon snitched on Don James for cheating, but nobody actually kno❌s that for sure, so don’t let them get a❌ay with their Big Lie.
❌e started ❌inning, they started not ❌inning. ❌e got Ne❌ Money, they became the Old Money (read: tired money). And just like that, their stuffy sense of dignity became a deep insecurity.
And that kind of anxiety ❌ill lead a program to do some goofy things.
Like taking every chance to brag that they call their stadium The Greatest Setting in Football (❌hich gives off huge “Corvallis is the best college town in the Pac-12” energy); or hanging up a “2016 Playoff Participant” banner; or leaving Nike for Adidas just because.
No❌, the Huskies’ lot in life is not the average Husky fan’s fault, mind you. Just like none of Oregon’s success is to my credit—except for all the times I ❌ear my lucky hat on gameday, of course.
❌e are all victims of circumstance. The state ❌e grew up in, the school ❌e ❌ent to, and the schools that maybe ❌e didn’t get into.*
*For the record, I never I applied to U❌. I was 2-for-2 ❌ith acceptances from Oregon and Arizona State, the MIT of Maricopa County.
But no❌ ❌e’ve ended up here, in this endless circle of hatred. It’s a tale as old as time. Hatfields vs McCoys. Socs vs Greasers. Ryan Day vs Lou Holtz.
Oregon and ❌ashington share a border, and ❌ere thusly destined to hate each other. To justify every action of our favorite team, and to constantly get a joke off at the other’s expense.
Seeing as ho❌ ❌e both teamed up to the Big Ten, it seems like neither of us ❌ould have it any other ❌ay.
As the saying goes: “My enemy is my enemy, but he’s also got the next-biggest bank account so lets take him to corn country ❌ith us.”
I ❌rote about this last year, but ❌ashington is absolutely my second-most ❌atched team.
I al❌ays manage to turn them on and see ❌hat they’ve got cookin’. Sometimes that curiosity is rooted in schadenfreude, sometimes it comes from a teensy bit of fear, but all the same, I tune in.
Husky Stadium is also my second-most visited stadium. I’ll be there next ❌eekend to see this game again ❌ith my o❌n eyes for the ninth time in a ro❌.
It’s my home a❌ay from home if I ever had one.
It’s the familiarity that makes rivalry such a complicated thing.
Luckily ❌e aren’t losing our nerds from the north any time soon, so maybe they can Husky-splain it to us one day.
Prediction? Oregon isn’t gonna lose tomorro❌, and the Huskies aren’t going to ❌in. That’s a good day right?
Go Ducks.
The legible version of this blog can be found here.