With today being the first game of the season, a yearly tradition resumes, as I get ready for another special season full of great memories at Autzen Stadium.
Everybody has their favorite story or first memory, for me, it was November 17th 1992, in a game against Cal. I was 6 and not even a Duck fan yet.
Not much I remember from that day other than the most important parts, which stuck with me and made me the passionate Duck fan I am today.
I remember walking up to what seemed like just a hill...a mound of dirt. But as I made my way up the hill and looked over the brim, I was blown away at what I saw.
It was love at first sight. It was my first football game I attended live, so I had never seen anything like it before. The bowl seemed so big! I had never seen so many people before, even though looking back, it probably wasn't that big.
What stood out to me the most was the multi-colored turf, with white numbers, and the old school Duck stepping through the block "O" at midfield. The walls surrounding the field were concrete at the time, with the banners of every Pac 10 team hanging on them.
I loved the atmosphere as well. The crowd was into it, with their chants and booing the officials or the other team, the fight songs (even Cal brought their band) - all exemplify the pageantry of college football.
And of course, the best part of the day was, Oregon won 37-17!
By the end of the day, I was a full fledged Duck fan. I told my dad I wanted to play football here and go to school here. On the way home, I couldn't stop humming the Oregon fight song.
Today, families will be bringing their children to Autzen for the very first time, creating special memories for years to come.
An awesome memory for sure. The first time we took our son to Autzen, was in 2008 and he was 8 years old. As we walked in, we told him he had to keep his head down and not peek. When we finally rounded the trees and could see the stadium in all its glory, we told him he could look. I was videotaping him as he picked his head up to see. His expression was priceless. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Something our little family will never forget...
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