Oregon State Fan Fest
By osbeaver
Are you excited? While Oregon set a record with 44,129 fans today, OSU will have a more mild version, as is Mike Riley’s liking, and maybe bring in 4,000 fans. Even that number is not guaranteed.
With our new marketing guru hired it sure seems like just a repeat of last year. Having Truax open for an hour or so on Fan Fest day does not 1/1000th equal having the Moshofsky Center open 3 hours prior to kickoff on actual gamedays as fan fervor takes over and basically guarantees the Ducks will win. Will OSU step up to the rest of the Pac-12’s bold actions and atleast try to raise its game? One can only hope BDC and Riley will take on the challenge of being a true rival to the Ducks and not accept being seen as near Washington Generals in comparison on the football field.
What OSU needs is a Pittsburgh Steelers/Baltimore Ravens atmosphere of physical and fast play and rowdy fans. BDC and Riley almost seem to encourage something closer to English high noon teatime. How about handing out some Rowdy Rags at Fan Fest that can be our version of Terrible Towels? If OSU is going to win the vast majority of its home games the culture must change to a much more involved crowd that is spurring on the action throughout all 4 quarters. Then things like remaining quiet as Quizz is thrown 15 yards out of bounds would never happen because the crowd would be erupting and waving in frenzied unison. Instead we have too casual of coaches and the fans are mimicing the often passive attitude.
Watching Grimm last night on ABC they had an episode about a lodge of Beaver people. These people had some positive traits but their main fault was being too timid. Right now I think that applies to the OSU program and our current leadership. We never get a press conference from either Riley or BDC that states they intend to win more than 6 games. It doesn’t matter if we are expected to be better or not. The standard is never defined and appears like it really is 6 wins since that very definition of mediocrity earns an extension. Anything past that is sweetener but not to be expected. This approach has alot to do with why 8 wins seasons will be a rarity if we move forward past this season with Riley.
He never has once had a preseason statement that he likes this team and believes they can win the conference and are very confident in 8+ wins. You never hear it and the expectations are simply set too low. Very little will be different at today’s Fan Fest. If you have your 9 year old in Truax take a picture with your iPhone or Android device. As an adult interested in winning in the fall you may not have a chance to share a great Truax Gameday experience with fellow serious fans that also believe OSU Football could be much greater if it chose to be.