So you’re new to the college atmosphere. There’s a lot to learn about when you first walk in: new friends, new lifestyle and new learning experience. But where do a lot of people’s first experiences with college come from?
Sports.
I remember people asking me if I was a Beaver or a Duck before I knew how to do multiplication. That’s the allegiance in the state, deciding which aquatic animal you like better than the other, and then rooting for the attached football team.
So here we all are going to Portland State—which is the biggest college in Oregon population-wise, by the way—yet there’s still a notion in Oregon to have to fall under either the Beaver or Duck flag. You have to be rooting for one of those teams if you live inside the borders of Oregon.
But you know what? You shouldn’t have to do that. Why should we have to be confined by this two-party system? Where are the other options for people like me (maybe us) who don’t feel represented by either of these two programs?
There is one other option, you could follow PSU sports.
Or are people going to PSU for the reason that they don’t care about sports? Because if you did care about sports, one would assume that you would go to Oregon State or University of Oregon. You wouldn’t go to PSU because you wanted to see football that gains recognition on a national level. Because in the last few years, both the Beavers and Ducks have accomplished exactly that (one school more so than the other).
This creates an issue for me. I’m a sports writer. It’s obvious to me—and it should be obvious to everyone—that people don’t go to school here to attend football games. At UO and OSU that most definitely cannot be said. So my job is to write about a portion of the college atmosphere that doesn’t have the highest involvement level you’ve ever seen.
This will be my fourth year doing it, and it has been an absolute blast. The people involved in this program are absolutely spectacular. They do a great job working with their athletes to make them the best possible. They all support each other and have created an environment that has been very easy for me to work in. I have written about every sport that PSU has, and I have little or no trouble writing about each and every one of them, receiving cooperation from an athletic department that’s excited about what’s going on here at PSU.
My recommendation to you if you are tired of choosing between Beavers and Ducks is this: try PSU athletics. Attend a game. The worst thing you can do is confirm that sports isn’t for you, and join the majority of people that attend PSU. To me, attending sports events here has been a great experience. I’ve seen a football game that came down to a last-second quarterback sneak to decide the game, I’ve seen Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews and even Kobayashi in the Peter W. Stott Center attending basketball games. I’ve also got a lot of free stuff: food at basketball games and all sorts of swag handed out at various other events.
Sports are a big part of the college atmosphere. And just because PSU isn’t world-renowned like the schools down south shouldn’t keep it from being part of our college experience as well.
