SOUND OFF.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Joyous holidays for Ducks

Woo-hoo! The Ducks are going to the Sun Bowl!

Before we pull out our tail feathers because Washington State predictably bumbled away the Apple Cup to the Huskies and put themselves backside first into the Holiday Bowl, consider this: The Ducks were well on their way to tanking the second half of the season in a repeat of the 2002 schedule.

And then we played Cal. And then we played Cal. (It's worth repeating.)

You could recap the entire season with those five simple words, because somewhere, somehow in a darkened Autzen Stadium on a strange November night, a young quarterback became a man and a young team finally believed they could win again.

But there's more to the recap.

We beat Michigan, and then had to improve.

We beat a very good OSU team - with our running game - and sent them to a lesser bowl.

Our kids completely turned the seasons around, winning four out of the last five contests, and gave more weight to coach Mike Bellotti's "you always remember the games played in November" mantra.

And perhaps sweetest of all, while our Ducks prepare for the Sun Bowl, the Huskies are sulking over a 6-6 season and staying home for the holidays.

Instead of a bowl game in their postseason Christmas stocking, the Huskies get a lump of coal. Maybe they can dance midfield on that until next fall.

Merry Christmas, Duck fans.

DAVID BARTLETT 

Eugene

Civil War swagger

Brimming with unsupported confidence, the Beaver Nation ran their mouths off before the Civil War football game and guaranteed a victory over the Ducks.

Despite the impossibility of a Duck victory, as a loyal Duck fan, I went to the football game anyhow. I enjoyed watching the Beavers live up to their claims en route to their 20-34 decimation of the Ducks. I admired the way the Beaver offense ran over the Duck defense with more than 50 yards rushing. I was also awestruck by the domination of the vaunted Beaver defense, holding the Ducks to fewer than 250 yards rushing.

The Beaver Nation's overconfidence, along with the rivalry between the Beavers and Ducks, made the Duck victory very sweet.

The Beaver Nation probably won't learn its lesson about running its mouth off, but that's OK. Victories over bitter rivals are much sweeter when the vanquished are arrogant.

OWEN ENGELMANN

Eugene

Modest proposals

I have one suggestion to improve the quality of the game of football, and another suggestion to improve how the performance of receivers and quarterbacks/passers are measured.

1) The crowd noise in a football stadium is very often maximum during the visiting team's offensive signal-calling at the line of scrimmage, and the noise is almost totally an attempt by the home crowd to prevent the visiting team from communicating among themselves at the line.

Yes, I want my team to win, but I also want to watch all the athletes on the field perform at their best as a team. However, at a certain measurable level, the crowd's noise will prevent the visiting team from communicating and therefore playing their best.

I suggest the referee nearest the quarterback wear a device that measures noise/sound waves, and that when the previously agreed upon noise level is reached, the crowd be warned to be quieter or a penalty will be given the home team.

2) Establish a football official scorer, as exists in baseball, who will be able to determine if a receiver should have caught a pass. If the receiver erred and did not catch the pass, the official statistics of the receiver and the quarterback/passer will record in the former's column "error" and in the latter's column "receiver error."

EDWARD F. WILSON

Eugene

Code of conduct

After watching umpteen football games over the Thanksgiving holidays, I am convinced that some type of coaches' code of conduct is needed.

The antics and tirades directed at sideline officials by coaches is totally unreasonable. In most cases, the sideline official nearest the coach's side of the field had nothing to do with the call, yet he bears the brunt of the outburst.

These displays of emotion are more in tune with a World Wrestling Federation production that with the expectations of true sporting conduct. Football officials should be accorded the same respect as those in other sports. An appropriate penalty would be a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty and ejection.

The players are held to a certain standard of behavior, and coaches, as mentors, should be at least as accountable for their on-field conduct.

HAROLD ANDERSON 

Springfield

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