Matt Knight Madness – Incredible Night

Posted on October 14, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

So it’s 11:18 PM PST. I just got home from Matt Knight Madness, the first practice and party of the Oregon Basketball teams. I should be tired, but I’m not, this was definitely one of the best nights in Oregon yet!

The big story for tonight, was that they were raffling off 10-15 pairs of the Jordan 3 Oregon Pit Crew Edition, one of the nicest renditions of the shoe to be created. The shoe was designed by Tinker Hatfield (famous Jordan shoe designer, google him if you don’t know who he is) for the “Pit Crew,” the raucous Oregon Student Section. Originally the goal of the evening was for myself and two of my friends to each win a pair. Unfortunately, the raffle tickets were all gone by the time we got into the arena. So we had to watch the shoes be given away to people who probably didn’t appreciate the shoes as much as they should. Oh well, what can you do?

So I had pretty much admitted defeat for the evening, and was relegated to watching the men’s and women’s teams scrimmage and a pretty good dunk contest. Aaron Brooks was their, and the UO women’s coach is the Guru of Go and former Lakers head coach Paul Westhead.

The Guru of Go - It was an honor to speak with him

So it was still shaping up to be an entertaining evening. As the night ended, they encouraged everyone to go get a free Nike t-shirt while supplies lasted.

We tried to go and get our shirt, but the line was about 1000 people long, so we decided to go back into the arena and wait. This was the best decision we could have made. The players and celebrities were still on the court, and by some stroke of fate, one of our classmates had secured press passes. So we ended up going on the court and meeting some amazing people. I can’t even believe that I met them.

First I met Jordan and Nike designer Tinker Hatfield. If you’re a sneakerhead, like myself, meeting the greatest shoe designer of all time is epic. This is the man responsible for designing the Jordan 3-15′s, 20, 23, and 2010, among many others. Luckily I happened to be wearing one of my rarer pairs of J’s

Me and Tinker - Unbelievable

so I was confident in myself. A group of people not wearing Jordan’s were getting pictures and talking to him. I waited my turn but eventually approached Tinker and said “How about we let somebody who is actually wearing Jordan’s get a picture with Tinker?” He saw my shoes and we started talking and eventually got the picture you see here. It was unbelievable to talk with him, and hold my own in terms of sneaker knowledge with an all-time great.

Next I walked down the court and met Aaron Brooks, former Duck great, NBA Most Improved Player Award Winner, and current backup point guard for the Phoenix Suns. This was a quick picture we got, and I wished him luck if their is a season this year. Its crazy how little he is and that he can play so well in the league.

Lastly, I got to speak for a while with Paul Westhead the women’s basketball coach. He is the subject of the 30 for 30 documentary, “The Guru of Go” and was formerly the LA Lakers head coach before Pat Riley took over. It was great to talk a little hoops with him. He was extremely impressed with the fact that I was in the Warsaw Sports Marketing MBA center, and hopefully I can find some ways to work with him in the future. You could tell just by talking to him how great of a basketball mind he was.

All in all, it was an epic night and was one of the many reasons why I wanted to come out here so badly. I hope you all enjoy the pics! Good night!

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U of O v. Cal

Posted on October 8, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

One the many highlights of being at the U of O is the sports. And football is THE sport! Matt and I decided to buy season tickets (a decision we are very happy about), so we have already been to 2 games at Autzen stadium. But, Thursday night’s game was the first “real” game. Meaning… Because of the later start to school (later than most other schools), Thursday was the first home game of the season since classes have been in session. Because of that they opened 3 more student sections in the stadium. Also, the previous 2 games started at 12pm. Still super fun, but there is something more nostalgic about a football game under the lights with a packed stadium.

walking to the game

Me and the Matts (my Matt and Mr. Maxson) walked from campus to Autzen. This worked out well and we are thinking it may be what we do for the remaining games this season. The stadium is about a 20-30 minute walk from the business complex. We literally walked through the woods and the stadium just appears. For lack of a better word, its really cool. We headed to the MBA tailgate. The amount of tailgates and the number of people at the tailgates were also much higher. Which of course made for a fun time. The game started at 6, so we were able to hang out for about 3 hours prior to game-time.

The game itself was also more eventful. Cal actually scored and there were moments of worry for us Duck fans. (Oregon did end up winning by 30 points!) And then LaMichael went down There was literally a hush over the crowd. Seeing someone’s elbow bent the wrong way on a big screen is not pretty. He was down for awhile, after a minute or 2 the crowd started chanting his name. Pretty awesome.

it's raining!

And in true Oregon style, there was a random spurt of cold rain! The forecast was, of course, rain-free. Before every game the crowd yells “It never rains in Autzen Stadium”. This is clearly NOT the case. We were cold and wet, but obviously made it through. Can’t wait for next game day!!

puddles doing push-ups after a TD (wearing the Jordan's)

P.S. Puddles (the Duck mascot) was wearing a giant pair of custom Jordan’s. Matt was a bit more than happy

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1st Day of School!

Posted on October 2, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

Last Monday, Sept 26, Matt and I officially started graduate school. We are both taking 5 classes and got home Monday night feeling a bit overwhelmed. But, now that the week had come and gone, and we have a better idea about what our workloads will be, we are both feeling better.

It’s super strange (and awesome) being back on a college campus. We were spending a ton of time on campus for our two weeks of orientation, but no other classes were in session, so the campus was pretty deserted. However, now that the term is in full swing, there are people everywhere!! And so many bikes… I almost get hit by a bike everyday.

Matt is playing in a basketball league with other MBA/Law students. And we will start tutoring on Wednesday. Other than that, not too much to report.

Life in Eugene

Posted on September 23, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

Wow, what can I say other than we’ve been SUPER busy. The past month has flown by. We have done so much and met so many great people. Our apartment is about put together (we have IKEA to thank for that one) and we now have a better sense of the area.

So… what have we been up to? We got here with nothing and we had to sleep on the floor our first night, so the first few days here were pretty exclusively dedicated to getting our apartment in order. Those days consisted of about a million WalMart/Target trips and one giant trip to IKEA in Portland. Matt’s car was so full! We couldn’t have fit one more item in there and I was almost forced to take the train b/c I could barely squeeze in to the front seat.

IKEA aftermath

In between all of that “house” stuff we found time to check out some of the local stuff. Our first Saturday here we went to the farmers market. We actually met a classmate and his wife there. They recognized us by Matt’s shoes. Apparently Matt posted a picture of his shoes on facebook and the guy recognized them. How appropriate considering Matt has a love affair with each pair of his sneakers. But it was great to meet them there! Later that week they, the Maxons (Matt and Sam) and their dog Brutus we nice enough to invite us over for dinner. It was great to do something with other people for the first time in about 3 weeks!

We’ve also been spending some time at the local bars/breweries. Back in PA, we were spoiled by Alex and got to drank his awesome home-brews. Here, it’s almost as good. We have been to about 10 bars and each place serves local beer that the last place didn’t have. It’s amazing! They also sell beer and wine in the grocery store so we’ve been buying new beer/wine to try.

Amazing beer store/bar.

And of course we’ve been going to all of the football games! The first game was almost unbearable because it was so hot, at least 95 degrees and the sun was just beating down on us. People in the stands were literally dropping like flies. A girl right in front of us passed out mid game. But aside from the heat, the game was so fun! We went to a tail-gate pre-game and then headed in to the student section with Matt and Sam. The energy inside and outside of the stadium was awesome to be a part of. The second game was even better. First, the weather was about 20 degrees cooler. But also, we skipped the tail gate and went in to get our seats about an hour earlier. We got much better seats and were more engulfed by the student section. It was much easier to really get into the game that way.

Unfortunately, our time here thus far hasn’t been all fun. Orientation started on Monday, Sept 12. It was intense and tough for both Matt and I to get back in the swing of things after being out of school for over 3 years and out of work all summer. We were placed in groups, worked on a case study and had to give a 25 minute presentation. But it wasn’t all classroom work. We also worked on building a new hiking trail, went rafting on the McKenzie river and spent a day in Portland.

I know I am missing things, and really just glossing over most of what we’ve done. But, now that school is starting and we are on a more normal schedule, we hope to blog and keep everyone updated more regularly.

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Days 9 and 10…we finally reached Eugene!

Posted on September 11, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

This sums up or desert drive...

So we woke up on Friday morning with the cruel realization that pool bars and frozen drinks were going to be replaced with gas stations, our packed car, and 8 hours of bad road…Yes, we had to drive from Las Vegas to Reno. 453 miles, 8 hours. I know I have said that other stretches were the worst drive of the trip (read Nebraska-Denver) but I’ve got to say this drive was way worse. 8 hours of driving through the Mojave desert made Marci and I vow that from now on we will only be flying into Vegas.

First off, there is absolutely nothing but desert on this drive. Every “town” looked abandoned and we drove by more brothels than we ever thought we could. Throw in some abandoned mining towns, and I felt like I was in a horror movie. All I could think about was movies like the Hills have Eyes, and House of 1000 Corpses; I just hoped that our car would not encounter any problems on the way. Luckily we didn’t, although Mother Nature did it’s worst. First was the wind, when you’re driving with a car topper packed full of expanding space bags, attached by 4 ten-year-old straps, you get nervous driving through “high wind areas” (as the signs told us). I could feel every gust of wind hit the topper and it was a challenge to stay straight. Secondly, we encountered a crazy thunder/dust storm midway through. The Mojave desert gets something like 0.5 inches of rain a year, and we happened to drive through it that day. Lightning is much scarier in the middle of nowhere, and at one point we had to drive through a zero visibility dust cloud. I just hit the gas and tried to get through it as fast as possible. Thankfully we did. The rest of the drive was uneventful, mostly because we didn’t stop anywhere until our destination, Reno.

We stayed at the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino. It was pretty nice, and Reno was decent, definitely a different vibe than Vegas. Our hotel was pet friendly, so as we checked in, a dog and it’s owner came out into the hallway to greet us with a bark. Reminded me of home. By the time we were in Reno, all we wanted to do was be in Eugene, but we needed to eat and sleep…We debated room service, but ended up going to the Hash House A Go-Go in Harrah’s.

The pork sandwich - this was awesome.

To our surprise this had been on Man Vs. Food, and the portions were huge. Since we hadn’t stopped, we were more than ecstatic about this. I went with the pork tenderloin sandwich while Marci went with the fried chicken sandwich. They both hit the spot.

After dinner, we both just passed out. We knew the next day would be our last on the road, and we were so excited to wake up. Usually Marci likes to sleep a little later, but she was up and ready when I was. We hit the road early, happy to leave Reno and the desert behind us. This last day was 7.5 hours and we would be checking into our apartment upon our arrival, so we drove straight through again, no stops. We drove through Nevada, and drove through a little bit of Northeastern California, and then entered Oregon! We drove through this awesome mountain range, and saw picturesque redwoods. It felt like we blinked and we were turning into our apartment.

Thankfully, our apartment complex was nice, a little dated, but definitely live-able. Our first stop was Wal-Mart to get some essentials. Unfortunately as it was Sunday, the mattress store was closed, so we slept on the king-size (aka the floor). It was definitely not a good sleep but it allowed me to wake up at 5 AM and head to Walmart again to pick up a TV, vacuum, and microwave before Marci woke up. The bed would be delivered that day, and our apartment was slowly becoming a home. Marci will update with some before and after photos of the apartment for all of your enjoyment. As for me, I’m just happy to be here after the 10-day exodus. We couldn’t have done without all of your support! Miss you all.

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Day 5 through 8: Denver to Salt Lake City to Las Vegas

Posted on September 5, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

Admittedly we are a bit behind on our blogging, but we have been so busy getting things set up here in Eugene. Now that we are feeling more at home we hope to become more blog-regular. Not to mention, part of this blog is to act of a journal of sorts for us to have to look back on. We both know our time of U of O is going to fly by!

Now, on the trip… Driving from Denver to Salt Lake City was AMAZING!!! We were a bit disappointed driving into Denver because we were anticipating driving through the Rockies, which we did not. On the way out of Denver was another story. The scenery for the majority of the trip was nothing by picturesque. Most of our drive was actually through Wyoming. We drove through the smallest towns and did some wikipedia-ing to figure out where we were. turns out the entire state of Wyoming is less than that of Lancaster County. Driving into the Salt Lake Area it was easy to see how the area hosted the winter Olympics. The mountains are amazing and I was in awe of how houses were literally cut out the mountains.

Our hotel ended up being about 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake (and not walk-able). Matt did food research prior to our trip and knew where he wanted to eat dinner, The Red Iguana. As it turns out, the place is pretty famous. We were there around 8pm on a Monday night and there was a line out the door. After eating I understood the line. We started with the most tasty chips and salsa. Matt ordered chicken and mole verde. It was served with rice and soft taco shells. I tasted and can assure you that it tasted about 1000 times better than it looked. I had beef and chorizo tacos. OH MY GOODNESS. No taco will ever compare. After dinner, we did a quick drive through downtown and headed back to the hotel. We were both kinda bummed about not having more time in Salt Lake. We both loved what we saw and hope to make it back sometime sooner rather than later.

The next morning we set off on the LONG 6 hour car ride to Las Vegas. Although this was one of our shorter drives, it seemed super long because we were both so ready for a couple days of relaxation and no car time. Other than feeling long, the drive was uneventful. Because we left Utah early in the a.m. and we finally crossed into the pacific time zone, we got to Vegas nice and early. After a lengthy check-in (why are Vegas check-ins never quick?) we finally were on “vacation”.

Sadly, I didn’t take my camera out with me for most of the Vegas stay, so photos are limited. But, we had a great time. Night 1, we relaxed, ate dinner (and drank) at the hotel pub and walked the strip. We saw the pirates show at Treasure Island, the Bellagio fountains show and checked out the shops and Ceasars including the most amazing Nike store that had Matt in heaven.

Day 2 included much needed pool relaxation time! Our hotel had an awesome lazy river and wave pool along with a DJ and pool bars For dinner we went to Wolfgang Puck’s more casual restaurant at MGM. YUM. MGM is also home to KA by Cirque du Soleil and because we had nothing to do, we checked out show times and tickets. While in line for tickets a visibly intoxicated couple approached us and asked if we wanted to buy their tickets. Duh, of course we did. The guy asked for $100, but I only had $70 cash and they accepted that! The shown price on each ticket was $143. We got into the show and were literally less than 10 rows from the stage. It couldn’t have worked out any better for us, but I wonder what that couple thought when they woke up the next morning.

Day 3 was more of the same, pool and relax. We re-walked the strip and ate dinner somewhere inside the Venetian… I can’t remember the name, but it was good. Early to bed, early to rise. TWO MORE DAYS OF TRAVEL.

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Day 3 and 4: Cedar Rapids to Nebraska to Denver

Posted on August 29, 2011 by uoducksflytogether

Before we go back in time, we just want to let you all know that we survived our cross country voyage and we have arrived in Eugene safely, so don’t worry about the desert winds ripping our car topper off and ruining our trip!

Now I would like to take this opportunity to share our trip days three and four… Cedar Rapids was definitely a walk down memory lane for me and I was happy to be able to show Marci the places that molded me into the man I am today. We woke up after a deep sleep in the Best Western across from the General Mills factory. Before we embarked on our 6 hour drive to Lincoln, Nebraska, I took Marci to all of my old houses, schools, and churches. The first stop was Stoney Point…this is where my family and I lived our first few years in Iowa. The house looked the same, but the neighborhood was so built up! The farms behind the house are now another neighborhood and the old court where the Stone Men (my dad’s basketball team) used to practice was now a full road. I then took Marci to my Nanny and Pop-Pop’s house two blocks away. This house is where I used to go every morning before school and spend some quality time with my grandparents. After that, I showed Marci Coolidge Elementary School which still looked the same although it looked a little run down. Lastly, we went to the Hanover house. This house has definitely seen better days; their was a toilet on the front porch and an old green school bus parked in the driveway…yikes! All in all it was a great experience, but we were ready to hit the road.

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We arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska mid-afternoon…we ate lunch…we went to sleep…Thanks Lincoln!!! The best part of Lincoln was the drive there, we saw so many beautiful rolling plains and corn fields. Marci took some great pictures!

We left Lincoln and headed to Denver. Let me just say that this 8-hour drive was the second worst drive of the trip. 8-hours of flat, prairie land. We saw so many herds of steer, that the novelty wore off after about an hour. We thought Denver would never come. Also we had our scariest encounter of the trip when we stopped for gas at the only gas station we saw for a few hundred miles. This guy pulled in with us, kept hovering near me, was wearing bowling shoes with neon green laces, and made a point to wait for us to leave before he did. Really weird dude.

We made it to Denver at around 6 o’clock and walked to dinner. We went to a local legend, the Cherry Cricket, home of the Cherry Cricket burger! Marci and I both agreed that it was the best burger that we had ever had and we were happy that we watched the episode of Man vs. Food that hilighted this establishment. I had the 1/2 pound burger with jalapenoes, green chilies, smoked cheddar, tomatoes, and grilled onions. Marci had the 1/2 pounder with sauteed mushrooms, grilled onions, and provolone. Delicious!!! After dinner, we were going to shop at Denver’s great outdoor shopping district but a combination of rain and the cricket burger’s derailed those plans. We caught a cab and headed back to our hotel (the best hotel of the trip Loews Denver Hotel). We caught the end of the Giants preseason game and passed out. Denver was a really cool city; clean, modern, and very eco-friendly. Walking through the downtown area whetted our whistle and we can’t wait to go back.