For OU fans, Oregon is A-OK.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

OREGON 34, OKLAHOMA 33

Oh, you.

If you look like a Sooner, walk like a Sooner and talk like a Sooner ... then you must be state District Judge Vicki Robertson, "a big OU fan!"

But why does the University of Oklahoma call itself OU and not UO, like, uh, another football-crazy university?

"It's easier to spell - O comes before U," Robertson, who's running for re-election in Oklahoma City this fall, said with characteristic "Okie" twang before her beloved OU Sooners played the University of Oregon in Saturday's historic game at Autzen Stadium.

Besides, who wants to see the UO play the UO?

Robertson was among a large group of crimson-clad Oklahoma Sooner fans enjoying a "Boomer Bash" in, of all places, Mallard Park in Autzen's east parking lot before the kickoff of OU's 34-33 loss to the UO.

Diet Pepsi in hand, she spent much of the pregame party, hosted by the OU Alumni Association, slapping "Re-elect Judge Vicki Robertson" stickers on other fans' shirts, whether they be crimson or green and yellow.

During storied Oklahoma's visit to Eugene, Sooner fans couldn't say enough complimentary things about what for many was a first-ever trip to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, despite the many differences between those with webbed feet and those from the land of "Boomer Sooner!"

Of course, this was before they lost to the Ducks for the first time ever.

"You have Phil Knight, and we have Toby Keith," said Robertson, referring to both the UO's most famous and generous alum, and the country singer who lives and breathes OU football.

And what about OU fans' observations of those flashy UO uniforms, created by Knight's Nike? Are they really on the forefront of fashion?

"They're ... different," said Arthur Thompson, who traveled all the way from Stroud, Okla., with his wife, Betty.

"They're ugly," said Dr. Chris Moeller, a 1976 OU graduate who is now a dermatologist in Wichita, Kan.

"We love the dead ducks sticking out of the trunk," said Betty Thompson, referring to the stuffed-animal variety, not the real thing, she saw coming down Interstate 5 on Saturday morning.

The Thompsons, like lots of OU fans, stayed in Portland during the trip to Oregon. And many of them went on sight-seeing tours set up by the OU Alumni Association.

The Thompsons visited the Oregon coast and historic Fort Clatsop near Astoria. Other OU fans saw Mount St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls, said Tripp Hall, vice president of OU alumni affairs.

"When we came here to Eugene, it was like coming home," Hall said of the friendliness fans encountered. "We are so delighted to be in Oregon."

Hotel rooms in the Eugene-Springfield area were hard, if not impossible, to come by this weekend, with all 3,200 or so pretty much spoken for, according to the Convention and Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon.

An estimated 6,000 OU fans made the trip, although only about 4,000 of them had tickets to the game.

Those who couldn't get a ticket planned to find a bar or watch the game on television in their hotel rooms, Hall said.

The OU Alumni Association usually selects two road games per season to attend, Hall said, and this year's selections were the Oregon game and the Oct. 7 visit to Dallas when the Soones meet Texas.

But Oregon is a place many of them had never been.

"We were amazed, people have been so nice," said Moeller, even if the latest edition of Duck football uniforms haven't grown on him. Besides, it's about the people, right? Moeller said he found UO fans and everyone else as cordial as could be, right down to the rental-car folks at the airport. And he's been on more than a few road trips to see the Sooners play.

Despite some opposing fans' opinions - can you say Huskies? - that UO fans can be rude, obnoxious and not exactly sober sometimes, Moeller said he's rarely encountered fans as friendly as Oregon's. Nicer than Cornhusker fans in Lincoln, Neb., home of OU's archrival? "Oh, gosh, yes," Moeller said.

As for some Husky fans, who were in Norman, Okla., last weekend to watch the University of Washington lose to the Sooners, one OU fan at the Boomer Bash said, "They all don't like y'all."

Oh, well. David and Sharon Ogden of Stilwell, Okla., like Duck fans.

"No complaints," said David Ogden, he of the black cowboy hat, Western-style jeans and thick Oklahoma accent. Many Oregon fans commented on how gracious and friendly OU fans were when the Ducks played in Norman two years ago. "Now they've returned the favor," David Ogden said.

Of course, these were pregame comments. "We'll see after the game," he said, walking away. "After we've won by 21 points."

Close. He was only off by 22.