Out-of-egg thinking creates new Duck.

Byline: MARK BAKER The Register-Guard

Maybe the new Duck is bad luck?

A record crowd of 56,754 went berserk before kickoff at Saturday's homecoming game at Autzen Stadium as the University of Oregon hatched - yes, hatched - a new mascot.

Unfortunately, it may have been the most noise Duck fans created all afternoon after the UO football team suffered its worst home loss in three years, a 44-33 setback to the University of Southern California.

But anything's possible before kickoff, which is when an announcer on the stadium's public address system told the story of how construction workers had discovered a rather large egg last winter in the dirt underneath Autzen's old south side.

As the story goes, Donald and his brother were born in Alton Baker Park in 1967, but the brother was buried back in his egg under what was then a new Autzen Stadium. Donald's brother was only to be hatched after the Ducks won Pac-10 Conference championships in both football and men's basketball, which happened this past year.

This new Duck is meaner, sleeker and way more muscular than the Ducks' longtime mascot, Donald Duck himself, who is, well, pretty fluffy. But most fans would take Donald's record as a mascot over this yet-to-be-named mallard, who is now 0-1.

"I like Donald better," said 12-year-old Becca Schaefer of Salem, seated next to her sister and grandparents at Saturday's game.

"Is he a replacement Duck?" asked Becca's grandmother, Ann Lyman, who was sitting with her husband, Ron, a football player at Oregon in the early '50s. "I hope not, (Donald) is too important," she said.

Hold your feathers, Duck fans. Donald is not going anywhere. He is still the UO's official mascot and the university, in fact, says it's in the final stages of extending its agreement with The Walt Disney Co. for the continued use of Donald's image.

The UO decided to unveil its newest Duck, to be named in an upcoming student contest, to celebrate the recent successes of UO athletic programs and the newly expanded Autzen, UO Athletics Director Bill Moos said.

"The original Duck is not going to go away," Moos said as he took in Saturday's game from his stadium suite. "It's just another way to add excitement to our homecoming. It gets the students excited and just adds another flair to game day."

Eight-year-old Jared Kosanovik of Corvallis (yes, Corvallis), thought the new Duck was "cool."

"He looks like Robo-Duck," he said. Jared's father, Gerry Kosanovik, a UO alum who admitted he is known as the "Buckin' Duck" in Corvallis, said it may be time for the "cartoonish" Donald to go.

"He's our Duck and we love him, but this is a new Duck for a new century," he said.

The new Duck blasted out of a smoke-filled Egg right before kickoff, the sounds of rock music shaking the fans and the field. He did backflips and leapt onto the wall surrounding Rich Brooks Field, startling and thrilling fans at the same time.

"It was scary, I thought he was going to fall," said Ivory Stephens, a UO freshman from Portland. Stephens was sitting in the first row of Section 8 when the new mascot jumped off the field and landed on the retaining wall right in front of her.

"That was fun," said the new Duck, as he caught his breath in the tunnel under the west end zone. "But I was blind in that egg. I don't know if you can imagine what it's like to do that in front of 57,000 people. It's usually just Onterrio (Smith) and Keenan (Howry) who get that."

The new Duck revealed that, underneath that Lycra suit, he is really a human from Portland celebrating his 25th birthday. Athletic department officials asked that his name not be disclosed.

"Mascots aren't suppose to talk," said Greg Graziano, the department's marketing manager.

The new Duck's suit was designed by Michael Curry of Scappoose, who has designed costumes for such Broadway hits as "The Lion King," as well as outfits for the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Nike helped with the design, said Moos, mentioning that the outfit, and the idea for it, grew out of the UO's sports apparel agreement with the Beaverton company.

Donald himself said he has no hard feelings about the new Duck. In fact, the two shared several hugs after the new Duck hatched.

"I think it's a great addition to the Duck family," Donald said through his beak. "It's about time he hatched. Together we will rule Autzen Stadium and the Pac-10."

Just not on this Saturday.

CAPTION(S):

CHRIS PIETSCH / The Register-Guard The sleek new Duck emerges from his egg to greet a record crowd at Autzen Stadium before Saturday's football game. "He's our Duck and we love him, but this is a new Duck for a new century." GERRY KOSANOVIK UO alum, on the addition of a newer, sleeker mascot "That was fun. But I was blind in that egg. I don't know if you can imagine what it's like to do that in front of 57,000 people." THE NEW DUCK