The Ducks!

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I've been out of college for nearly six years. In that span of time, I've traveled the world, started a career, moved to Southern California, built relationships, and seen some incredible baseball. However, I cannot ignore the roots of my upbringing, so when I saw that my Ducks were playing in LA down at USC, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go. I dressed up all in my Duck gear, took a break from the professional games, jumped on the Metrolink, and rode down Figueroa to Dedeaux Field.

I had been to Dedeaux Field before, as my trip last year to see the Trojans play host to North Dakota State, gave me a great experience of interacting with fans, especially the ones from Fargo. I was excited for today because I knew that there would be a lot more Duck fans in attendance, and that I could really interact with people who were from Eugene; my hometown. It is always refreshing to see and visit with Oregonians and have them see my world now. I love hearing their stories of back home and telling them of all the fun places here in Southern California. This back-and-forth, which has happened a couple time in the past couple years, is one of the great things about baseball games.

Ever since Baseball Extravaganza 2015 started, I have noticed something about my travels on the Metrolink. It seems like I have that aura about me that I know what's going on and all the information about the trains. Every single time, it seems, people come up to me on the train or at the train stations and ask me questions about transit. I try and answer them to the best of my ability, but do you think that since I have ridden Metrolink probably more than 100 times in the last two years,  can I actually call myself a bona fide Southern California transit expert? Granted, talking to people on public transportation is generally-accepted as taboo, but I kind of get a laugh about it.

After the bike ride through downtown, past the Staples Center, and down Figueroa, I made it to Dedeaux Field. After getting in, I was amazed at just how many Duck fans really were there. I was also amazed at how many people were actually at the game, period. There was a Dodgers game going on at the same time at Dodger Stadium, and I figured that a lot of local would go to that game instead. I couldn't have been more wrong as the Trojan faithful came out to the park and were well-represented. Even with the great turnout, I estimated that around half the crowd was clad in green-and-yellow rooting for the Ducks.

Even with my huge bulk of college games I've been to this season, I haven't really been paying attention to stats and standings. Being so focused on just going to the games, I don't really know who's good and who isn't. Apparently, the Trojans are pretty good, and the Ducks have slipped a bit since making a respectable run to the Super Regionals last year. The talent discrepancy was really evident as the Trojans jumped out to a 3-run lead early on, allowed the Ducks to climb back into it, but then ran away in the late innings taking it from the Ducks 7-3.

A couple things I did notice about the game: first, it seemed that of all the Duck fans in attendance, only myself and maybe a half-dozen other fans were actively cheering for the team. When the Duck lead-off hitter hit a homer on the first pitch of the game, I stood up, cheered, and yelled "GO DCUKS!" However, looking around, it was almost like a golf game. All these green-and-yellow dressed fans were sitting, looking-ahead, with some polite clapping. Look, as an alumni living in Southern California, it isn't very often that my alma mater plays in my neck-of-the-woods, and, you know what, I'm going to cheer and root my head off. I was a little disappointed in the other fans there, and I would expect that a fanbase that has been spoiled with success in so many other sports (football, basketball, track) would show a little more pride and gumption in rooting for the team.

I usually make it a point not to question coaching or the decisions made during the game, but I have to make an exception today for my own team. It seemed like the Oregon team was really micromanaged. Anytime a baserunner for USC would get on, the pitcher would throw over to first three or four times during an at-bat. I know that they were instructed to do this because I was looking into the Oregon dugout and seeing the coaching staff after every pitch shifting the defense and calling pitches. I think that all of this involvement by the bench made the team stressed out and, in-turn, caused them to pitch poorly and make errors. Maybe it's just my experience watching professional players, but I think that the best way to coach is to let your players play the game.

This upcoming weekend is going to be another marathon, of sorts. I have scheduled a doubleheader for Firday as I'll catch the afternoon college matchup at Fiscalini Field here in San Bernardino between CSU Los Angeles and CSU San Bernardino. In the evening, I'll drive down to San Manuel Stadium for the High Desert Mavericks and Inland Empire 66ers game. Saturday will see me just at San Manuel for the 66ers game. On Sunday, my girlfriend will join me on the OC Train with her bike as we go down to Anaheim to see the Angels play host to the Texas Rangers.

I'll post after the weekend, so follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and FourSquare for game updates and the like.

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)