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↵Reporting live from a monsoon in Portland, the Road to Game Day is visiting Eugene for the weekend. You know it isn’t a good sign when you can’t think of one player on either Stanford or Oregon’s football team (Dennis Dixon?), but rest easy, I came up with stud DB/LB Patrick Chung, just before I had to google the first name of Ryan Leaf’s little brother ... who apparently graduated. Good to see someone is doing the family proud. ↵↵Looking at the schedule this year, Autzen Stadium was one of the places that we decided we just needed to see. I’m having a hard time figuring out why I’ve always kind of liked the Oregon Ducks, but I’m guessing it’s from my childhood enjoyment of the computer game The Oregon Trail, and from stumbling upon the phenomenal movie Without Limits about legendary Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine. (Far superior than the Jared Leto edition.) If you need an excuse to get jogging again, go pick up Without Limits, it practically laces up your shoes for you as you watch Billy Crudup rip through the forests training, and also stars the vastly underrated Monica Potter. ↵
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↵As we took off on this trip, we both were looking forward to driving across the country and “seeing America” and all its beauty. Crossing the Rockies, cutting through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and watching the leaves change in West Virginia made driving across Texas three times almost worth it. The drive north on I-84 into Oregon was the best we’ve seen. We saw wild turkeys and pronghorn antelopes, mountains that started with still turning leaves that became snow covered forests. I felt like I was living Woody Guthrie’s folk song. ↵
↵↵The highlight of our time in Oregon hasn’t been the natural beauty or watching the leaves turn, but our trip to the Employee Store at Nike. With the help of a friend, we were able to get our names on “the list,” which is sort of like scoring a Golden Ticket from Willy Wonka. The store is a huge warehouse filled wall-to-wall with all things Nike. Everything from Air Force Ones to Nike air pump kits. (Purchased, $4. Our football is flat.) After being lectured by our buddy not to act like idiots (apparently he’s been watching our videos), and don’t stare at the visiting celebrities and athletes that swing through the store (we saw a bunch of Houston Rockets), we filled up two shopping carts full of Nike stuff that was on sale for at least half price. ↵
↵↵Hopefully it stops raining as we make our way down towards Eugene today, but the weather report says that there’s a 90% likelihood of that not happening. Even a cold, wet, and miserable day won’t stop us from enjoying our time in Oregon. Good thing we’re both equipped with brand-new, state-of-the-art, “Fit-Storm” Nike rain gear. I don’t know what that means, but I like it.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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