Where did U go? Beavers' logo comes up a letter short.

Byline: Bob Welch The Register-Guard

The news hit me Wednesday like a blindside blitz: Oregon State University athletics are no longer Oregon State University athletics.

They're "OS" athletics. The "University" is gone. Just like that: shoved into the abyss of tradition by the purveyors of cutting-edge thinking, The Marketers.

Being something of a traditionalist, I'm not big on change. And growing up as a Beaver fan, I still pine for pumpkin-orange helmets. But the new, self-proclaimed "Flex OS interlocking logo system" is part of what OSU - whoops, can I say that? - officials call an "enhanced brand identity system." (Somewhere, Slats Gill is rolling over in his grave.)

"This new branding effort will enable us to create a common identity and will set us apart from other schools that have similar color schemes and abbreviations," Director of Athletics Bob DeCarolis said.

In other words, the Beavers don't want to be confused with Oklahoma State University, which even has the same orange-and-black colors; Ohio State University or - Benny help us! - the "O" Ducks.

The new "system," says a press release, "is designed & engineered" - goodness, is this a logo or a Lexus? - "to confidently move forward and link all of Oregon State's athletic teams into a single visual identity. It represents Speed, Power & Balance." (Sounds like Dee Andros' old

power-T offense.)

Now, don't panic. "Oregon State University" itself is not going anywhere. "OSU" will still appear on letterhead, business cards and the like. And the "U" apparently will be allowed to be sung in the fight song and verbalized in that student-done "O ... S ... U" yell with the hand signals: But all 17 Beaver sports teams uniforms, including the new ones the football team will unveil April 27, are going to be awash in interlocking "OS's."

`The new Oregon State (OS) logo, along with the new logotype, is considered an Athletics spirit mark,' the press release says.

"It is used to represent Oregon State on fields of play and in the retail market."

The "angry Beaver" logo is staying tight. "The Beaver logo will remain the primary mark for Athletics and the Oregon State logo (OS) is the secondary mark."

In other words, the NASA-esque OSU hats that the Beaver baseball players wore last spring en route to the NCAA World Series championship are as yesterday as Ralph Coleman's fungo bat. And the block "O" is off to the archives, too, perhaps to join UO's recently dumped block "O" in some 12-step program for loser

logos.

What, you ask, does this all mean? Could it suggest a universitywide identity crisis? After all, this is a school that's called itself five different names since it was founded as Corvallis College in 1868. Is this a 139-year-old institute still trying to figure out who it is?

Nope. It just means OSU - er, OS - is finally getting as obsessed with image as Oregon, which unveiled its new rounded "O" as if it were fresh from the pen of Michelangelo, then hatched a new mascot, Roboduck, that went over worse than New Coke.

And as obsessed as USC, whose media guide politely warns people not to refer to the school as "Southern Cal." And as obsessed as Washington State, which has registered "Wazzu" as an official university trademark.

If you're some stuck-in-the-mud-of-Parker-Stadium traditionalist, you'll lament the loss. But in our image-is-everything age, time marches on, with or - in this case - without U.

Bob Welch can be reached at 338-2354 or at [e-mail].