Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto
What We'll Miss This Spring
03/24/20 | General, @GoDucksMoseley
GoDucks.com editor Rob Moseley reflects on the absence of UO athletics in the coming days and weeks.
Spring break is this week on the University of Oregon campus, but that wasn't supposed to stop sports.
Right now we should be anticipating Sweet Sixteen appearances by both basketball teams. We should be analyzing early Pac-12 results for softball and baseball, and gearing up for the opening of Hayward Field later this year.
Instead, of course, we're sheltering in place, and working from home, and doing what we can to limit the spread of this coronavirus.
We don't have sports this week. We won't have sports at all this spring. I miss them terribly. Here are a few things I miss the most.
I'm going to miss seeing Pac-12 player of the year Payton Pritchard make another big shot in a crucial moment.
Seriously, when he was handing out assists to Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell and Tyler Dorsey and Chris Boucher back in 2017, who saw this coming? Who, other than members of the UO staff who knew then his drive and work ethic, saw Pritchard willing Oregon to win at Michigan, hitting a dagger to beat UW in Seattle, putting up 38 points in an overtime win at Arizona?
Anyone who put their hand up, stop it. You're lying. (Except you, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard. You can keep your hands up.)
I'm not one to decry the one-and-done culture of collegiate men's basketball. If it makes sense to a kid and his family, they've gotta do what's in their best interest. But what an example Pritchard set.
Keep your head down. Work your tail off. Stay in school. Play four years. Watch where it could take you.
I'm going to miss marveling at the exploits of our acrobatics and tumbling team.
I say this with no shred of doubt — pound for pound, these are the strongest, most explosive athletes at Oregon. On the Courts for Kids trip I helped chaperone in 2017, the acro girls were the stars of the show. The rest of us buckled and swooned under the conditions — the alternating rain and heat, the insects, the uncertainty of navigating a foreign culture — and they kept plugging along.
As an at-best marginally competent CrossFit participant for going on five or six years now, elements like handstands and L-sits and ring dips remain beyond me.
The ease with which the women of our acrobatics and tumbling team execute them always leaves me spellbound.
Speaking of the fact I work out at a CrossFit box, that's one of two items here for which my co-workers will roast me, because I mention them so much it's jumped the shark into the land of absurdity (and man … I miss getting roasted by my co-workers. I genuinely cannot wait to be back in the office being rightfully roasted on the regular by my co-workers).
But I digress — I'm going to miss watching Gabe Matthews swing the bat for the Oregon baseball team. As a game, baseball is my first love in sports. And there's nothing like a sweet left-handed swing — I grew up in the days of Don Mattingly and Darryl Strawberry, and then Will Clark and Wally Joyner, Tony Gwynn and Ken Griffey Jr.
Manning first base for the Ducks the last four years has been an in-state kid who is a slick fielder, and who has gap-to-gap power from the left side. It's a beautiful thing.
Across the river on the other UO athletics diamond, I'm going to miss seeing what "Version 2" of Oregon softball was developing into.
The team had talent, no doubt. Allee Bunker and Rachel Cid and Jas Sievers all maturing into stars as sophomores. A deep pitching staff with diverse arsenals. Terra McGowan, robbed of a season last spring, leading the team in extra-base hits before being robbed of this season as well. And of course Haley Cruse, who was hitting .457 with an OPS of 1.135, and was perfect in 15 stolen-base attempts, and apparently also is active on social media, I've heard.
But the thing I'm gonna miss most is seeing how the softball team attacked the postseason. This group's mentality, to steal a term from new baseball coach Mark Wasikowski, was off the charts. When the Ducks won their first 15 games of the year, they didn't get ahead of themselves. When they dropped a couple, they didn't let doubt set in. They were even-keel throughout, exactly the sort of demeanor you want when the pressure starts to mount late in the year.
I'll miss seeing how they would have handled it.
This spring saw Version 2 for UO lacrosse, too, under second-year coach Chelsea Gamble Hoffmann.
In case you missed it (and based on our web site's analytics, some of you may have), I'd like to point you to one of the most remarkable game recaps we've published in my seven years as editor of GoDucks. In early March, the Ducks suffered their fifth loss in a row, at Colorado. They had just two days to get home and prepare to host their next game, against Fresno State on March 8.
In that tight window, what did Gamble Hoffman do? She installed a completely new offense — which went out and produced 20 goals in a win over the Bulldogs.
That's knowing your team, and knowing what isn't working and what will work. That's trusting your players to learn on the fly, and players trusting their coach to do right by them. Seriously, here's a link to the recap. It's remarkable.
That was to be the final game of their season, and they left the field with heads held high, thanks to their coach's moxie.
I'm going to miss trips to the UO Student Tennis Center that had become more frequent the last year or two.
The sport grabbed my attention last season when Thomas Laurent was making history for the men's team, and I got the bug. That said, I remain very much a novice tennis fan.
The artistry of the game can be lost on me. Perhaps it's the typical American in me, but I like to see big hitters whaling away at the ball. And boy, do our tennis teams have some big hitters.
Last year I started to compile a mental list of individual talents across UO sports that maybe don't get enough attention. Penei Sewell's footwork in football, Brooke Nuneviller's passing in volleyball — stuff like that. Well, the genesis for the idea was a tennis player: Ty Gentry, whose serve is an absolute force of nature. To see him uncoil at the baseline and pound serves with insane velocity … yeah, I'm gonna miss that.
When the women were playing, meanwhile, I'd usually find myself drifting to the court where freshman Lillian Mould was playing, and for the same reason. At her best, she would simply overpower the competition, blasting winners past her opponents. For a novice like me, it was fun as heck to watch.
I don't usually get a chance to watch a ton of golf, a notable exception being the unforgettable early summer weeks of 2016 when Eugene Country Club hosted the NCAA Championships. I miss that too ….
Anyway, one thing I appreciate about working in athletics is the way student-athletes support each other. As a fan, you probably see it most prominently when it's football players in the Pit Crew at Matthew Knight Arena, or volleyball players in the first row of the student section at Autzen Stadium. But these kids all root like crazy for each other. And a couple members of our golf teams are prime examples.
If there's a student-athlete who attends as many events as I do, it might be Kevin Geniza of the men's golf team. Last year he won the Herb Yamanaka Oregon Pride Award at the O Show, a nod from his fellow student-athletes to his deep involvement in both athletic and service endeavors. Over the summer, he was in Jamaica for the annual Courts for Kids trip. This guy loves the Ducks, and loves being a Duck.
That description fits Tze-Han Lin from women's golf, too. A native of Taiwan, she got to campus and immediately became a huge Oregon football fan.
Oh, both of them can swing the sticks a little bit, too.
They invest so much time and energy cheering on their fellow Ducks. I'll miss being able to return the favor and cheer for them out on the course this spring.
Speaking of proud Ducks, I'm crushed that fans won't have the chance this spring to cheer for Laura Paredes. Because you would have loved doing so.
For one thing, Paredes can throw the heck out of a javelin. A redshirt senior, she's a two-time all-American who finished third in the NCAA Championships as a freshman. Her personal best is 182 feet, 4 inches; that's really far.
Here's the thing, too: Paredes is a graduate transfer, and she was so happy to be at Oregon. I participated in a mentorship program for student-athletes this year, and chatted briefly with her at a dinner for all the program participants over the winter. She was thrilled about the commitment to track and field here. She was overjoyed at the coaching she was receiving. And she couldn't wait to compete in Eugene again for an NCAA Championship, this time as a Duck, with local fans on hand to cheer her.
The entire track and field program, and the community at large, was so eager to break in the new-look facility later this year. Such a shame.
I don't know what I'm missing when it comes to beach volleyball — but that was going to change this spring. The Ducks were scheduled to host Portland on April 14. It was the only home event on the calendar. I'm gonna miss checking it out to see what it's about.
Later that same week would have been the football team's spring game.
It was going to be a chance for fans to pack Autzen and see how insanely deep this defense will be, how ready Tyler Shough is to step up as the quarterback, how young players like Alex Forsyth and Devon Williams and Sean Dollars will impact the offense.
The soccer team was facing an important spring, too, a chance to establish its foundation under new coach Graeme Abel. Instead, we wait until the fall for that.
And finally. Last, but not least. Inhale … exhale …. big sigh … Oregon women's basketball.
I know South Carolina was No. 1 in the polls. I know Baylor was good enough to repeat as NCAA champs. I know, too, that through Sabrina Ionescu's force of will, and Ruthy Hebard's dominance in the post, and Minyon Moore's tenacity on defense, and Satou Sabally's versatility, and amid a flurry of three-pointers from the role players surrounding them, that the Ducks weren't gonna be denied this year.
They were gonna cut down the nets in New Orleans. They were gonna be national champions.
But here's the thing about Sab and Ruthy and the women's team. Two things, actually. One, they've already supplied us with such a deep reserve of amazing memories the past four years. All the triple-doubles and the conference championships and the amazing ways they let their personalities shine, on and off the court — it's more than we ever rightfully could have wished from them. And two, they'd already had their worlds turned upside-down this year, with the passing of Kobe Bryant and eight others in that helicopter crash.
They were too young to have to confront that grief, but they did, with their usual grace and class. They themselves said that the accident gave them a new perspective on what they have, and what they've done already. They didn't take their eye off the ball, per se. But they allowed themselves to take a quick glance every so often, and take heart in what they already had.
Right now, all of our worlds are turned upside-down. Let's follow their lead, and appreciate what we have, amid all the sadness at what's been lost.
Right now we should be anticipating Sweet Sixteen appearances by both basketball teams. We should be analyzing early Pac-12 results for softball and baseball, and gearing up for the opening of Hayward Field later this year.
Instead, of course, we're sheltering in place, and working from home, and doing what we can to limit the spread of this coronavirus.
We don't have sports this week. We won't have sports at all this spring. I miss them terribly. Here are a few things I miss the most.
I'm going to miss seeing Pac-12 player of the year Payton Pritchard make another big shot in a crucial moment.
Seriously, when he was handing out assists to Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell and Tyler Dorsey and Chris Boucher back in 2017, who saw this coming? Who, other than members of the UO staff who knew then his drive and work ethic, saw Pritchard willing Oregon to win at Michigan, hitting a dagger to beat UW in Seattle, putting up 38 points in an overtime win at Arizona?
Anyone who put their hand up, stop it. You're lying. (Except you, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard. You can keep your hands up.)
I'm not one to decry the one-and-done culture of collegiate men's basketball. If it makes sense to a kid and his family, they've gotta do what's in their best interest. But what an example Pritchard set.
Keep your head down. Work your tail off. Stay in school. Play four years. Watch where it could take you.
I'm going to miss marveling at the exploits of our acrobatics and tumbling team.
I say this with no shred of doubt — pound for pound, these are the strongest, most explosive athletes at Oregon. On the Courts for Kids trip I helped chaperone in 2017, the acro girls were the stars of the show. The rest of us buckled and swooned under the conditions — the alternating rain and heat, the insects, the uncertainty of navigating a foreign culture — and they kept plugging along.
As an at-best marginally competent CrossFit participant for going on five or six years now, elements like handstands and L-sits and ring dips remain beyond me.
The ease with which the women of our acrobatics and tumbling team execute them always leaves me spellbound.
Speaking of the fact I work out at a CrossFit box, that's one of two items here for which my co-workers will roast me, because I mention them so much it's jumped the shark into the land of absurdity (and man … I miss getting roasted by my co-workers. I genuinely cannot wait to be back in the office being rightfully roasted on the regular by my co-workers).
But I digress — I'm going to miss watching Gabe Matthews swing the bat for the Oregon baseball team. As a game, baseball is my first love in sports. And there's nothing like a sweet left-handed swing — I grew up in the days of Don Mattingly and Darryl Strawberry, and then Will Clark and Wally Joyner, Tony Gwynn and Ken Griffey Jr.
Manning first base for the Ducks the last four years has been an in-state kid who is a slick fielder, and who has gap-to-gap power from the left side. It's a beautiful thing.
Across the river on the other UO athletics diamond, I'm going to miss seeing what "Version 2" of Oregon softball was developing into.
The team had talent, no doubt. Allee Bunker and Rachel Cid and Jas Sievers all maturing into stars as sophomores. A deep pitching staff with diverse arsenals. Terra McGowan, robbed of a season last spring, leading the team in extra-base hits before being robbed of this season as well. And of course Haley Cruse, who was hitting .457 with an OPS of 1.135, and was perfect in 15 stolen-base attempts, and apparently also is active on social media, I've heard.
But the thing I'm gonna miss most is seeing how the softball team attacked the postseason. This group's mentality, to steal a term from new baseball coach Mark Wasikowski, was off the charts. When the Ducks won their first 15 games of the year, they didn't get ahead of themselves. When they dropped a couple, they didn't let doubt set in. They were even-keel throughout, exactly the sort of demeanor you want when the pressure starts to mount late in the year.
I'll miss seeing how they would have handled it.
This spring saw Version 2 for UO lacrosse, too, under second-year coach Chelsea Gamble Hoffmann.
In case you missed it (and based on our web site's analytics, some of you may have), I'd like to point you to one of the most remarkable game recaps we've published in my seven years as editor of GoDucks. In early March, the Ducks suffered their fifth loss in a row, at Colorado. They had just two days to get home and prepare to host their next game, against Fresno State on March 8.
In that tight window, what did Gamble Hoffman do? She installed a completely new offense — which went out and produced 20 goals in a win over the Bulldogs.
That's knowing your team, and knowing what isn't working and what will work. That's trusting your players to learn on the fly, and players trusting their coach to do right by them. Seriously, here's a link to the recap. It's remarkable.
That was to be the final game of their season, and they left the field with heads held high, thanks to their coach's moxie.
I'm going to miss trips to the UO Student Tennis Center that had become more frequent the last year or two.
The sport grabbed my attention last season when Thomas Laurent was making history for the men's team, and I got the bug. That said, I remain very much a novice tennis fan.
The artistry of the game can be lost on me. Perhaps it's the typical American in me, but I like to see big hitters whaling away at the ball. And boy, do our tennis teams have some big hitters.
Last year I started to compile a mental list of individual talents across UO sports that maybe don't get enough attention. Penei Sewell's footwork in football, Brooke Nuneviller's passing in volleyball — stuff like that. Well, the genesis for the idea was a tennis player: Ty Gentry, whose serve is an absolute force of nature. To see him uncoil at the baseline and pound serves with insane velocity … yeah, I'm gonna miss that.
When the women were playing, meanwhile, I'd usually find myself drifting to the court where freshman Lillian Mould was playing, and for the same reason. At her best, she would simply overpower the competition, blasting winners past her opponents. For a novice like me, it was fun as heck to watch.
I don't usually get a chance to watch a ton of golf, a notable exception being the unforgettable early summer weeks of 2016 when Eugene Country Club hosted the NCAA Championships. I miss that too ….
Anyway, one thing I appreciate about working in athletics is the way student-athletes support each other. As a fan, you probably see it most prominently when it's football players in the Pit Crew at Matthew Knight Arena, or volleyball players in the first row of the student section at Autzen Stadium. But these kids all root like crazy for each other. And a couple members of our golf teams are prime examples.
If there's a student-athlete who attends as many events as I do, it might be Kevin Geniza of the men's golf team. Last year he won the Herb Yamanaka Oregon Pride Award at the O Show, a nod from his fellow student-athletes to his deep involvement in both athletic and service endeavors. Over the summer, he was in Jamaica for the annual Courts for Kids trip. This guy loves the Ducks, and loves being a Duck.
That description fits Tze-Han Lin from women's golf, too. A native of Taiwan, she got to campus and immediately became a huge Oregon football fan.
Oh, both of them can swing the sticks a little bit, too.
They invest so much time and energy cheering on their fellow Ducks. I'll miss being able to return the favor and cheer for them out on the course this spring.
Speaking of proud Ducks, I'm crushed that fans won't have the chance this spring to cheer for Laura Paredes. Because you would have loved doing so.
For one thing, Paredes can throw the heck out of a javelin. A redshirt senior, she's a two-time all-American who finished third in the NCAA Championships as a freshman. Her personal best is 182 feet, 4 inches; that's really far.
Here's the thing, too: Paredes is a graduate transfer, and she was so happy to be at Oregon. I participated in a mentorship program for student-athletes this year, and chatted briefly with her at a dinner for all the program participants over the winter. She was thrilled about the commitment to track and field here. She was overjoyed at the coaching she was receiving. And she couldn't wait to compete in Eugene again for an NCAA Championship, this time as a Duck, with local fans on hand to cheer her.
The entire track and field program, and the community at large, was so eager to break in the new-look facility later this year. Such a shame.
I don't know what I'm missing when it comes to beach volleyball — but that was going to change this spring. The Ducks were scheduled to host Portland on April 14. It was the only home event on the calendar. I'm gonna miss checking it out to see what it's about.
Later that same week would have been the football team's spring game.
It was going to be a chance for fans to pack Autzen and see how insanely deep this defense will be, how ready Tyler Shough is to step up as the quarterback, how young players like Alex Forsyth and Devon Williams and Sean Dollars will impact the offense.
The soccer team was facing an important spring, too, a chance to establish its foundation under new coach Graeme Abel. Instead, we wait until the fall for that.
And finally. Last, but not least. Inhale … exhale …. big sigh … Oregon women's basketball.
I know South Carolina was No. 1 in the polls. I know Baylor was good enough to repeat as NCAA champs. I know, too, that through Sabrina Ionescu's force of will, and Ruthy Hebard's dominance in the post, and Minyon Moore's tenacity on defense, and Satou Sabally's versatility, and amid a flurry of three-pointers from the role players surrounding them, that the Ducks weren't gonna be denied this year.
They were gonna cut down the nets in New Orleans. They were gonna be national champions.
But here's the thing about Sab and Ruthy and the women's team. Two things, actually. One, they've already supplied us with such a deep reserve of amazing memories the past four years. All the triple-doubles and the conference championships and the amazing ways they let their personalities shine, on and off the court — it's more than we ever rightfully could have wished from them. And two, they'd already had their worlds turned upside-down this year, with the passing of Kobe Bryant and eight others in that helicopter crash.
They were too young to have to confront that grief, but they did, with their usual grace and class. They themselves said that the accident gave them a new perspective on what they have, and what they've done already. They didn't take their eye off the ball, per se. But they allowed themselves to take a quick glance every so often, and take heart in what they already had.
Right now, all of our worlds are turned upside-down. Let's follow their lead, and appreciate what we have, amid all the sadness at what's been lost.
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