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Thursday, September 14, 2023

In 2023, the Fighting Ducks have all the memorable lines, because they're writing the script

 



The deepest happiness in life is to take charge of your own story, to have a vision for it, work toward it, and taste every drop of juice when it ripens like a perfect peach.

This is an amazing year in the history of The Fighting Ducks. To begin with, they are truly the Fighting Ducks again. This unfolding story has 1994 vibes. Already there are indications that this is a special team. A team with a purpose. A team with unity. A team that rises to every challenge.

The five-minute film that Scott Anderson and the Oregon video team put out after the comeback victory over Texas Tech is a remarkable achievement and a treasure because it offers fans something we rarely see: it's as up close and personal a view of athletes in adversity and triumph as you can imagine. It allows us to experience the joy, the tension and the unfiltered passion of athletes in the moment, seizing everything they've worked so hard for, refusing to give it up. 

How many times have you watched it? I'm up to about ten. I like what it reveals about the bonds on this team, brother to brother, teammate to teammate, coach to his players. 

Watch what happens live and remember what they said. 

Dan Lanning: "It's not adversity when you've already planned for it."

Watching them at field level, the film gives you a glimpse of the absolute calm and assurance these guys seem to feel in a hostile stadium in maximum adversity. They didn't blink. It wasn't unexpected. It was like, here we are. Time to live the dream.

Lanning: "No panic, lots of fight."

This road game in Lubbock offered so many moments that invited panic. Trailing by nine late in the third quarter. Red Raiders with the ball fourth and two. Tyler Shough with a timeout, a minute to play, down by one and driving to midfield. The Ducks refused to panic. They seemed to love the opportunity to fight, shoulder to shoulder. They dug in.

Jerry Allen: "This is gut check time for the Oregon defense."

Memorable teams, really great teams, embrace the gut check times. They have a unique sense of when those moments have arrived and how to handle them.

Tez Johnson: "Tortillas might be good and all, but they don't work against the Oregon Ducks."

Confidence rises every time you face a challenge that stretches you and you rise above it. Great teams develop a sense of humor about pressure. It becomes their friend.

Lanning: "Listen, we've got an opportunity to be a hell of a team. I can't wait to get better."

That mindset that this is a journey and the ultimate goal is to achieve 100% of your potential is energizing and inspirational. A team that's authentically committed to continual improvement doesn't overlook opponents. It doesn't fear them. Week by week, it discovers its own strengths. There's that old adage, you can accomplish tremendous things when no one cares who gets the credit.

Lanning: "I am so pleased to be your coach. I love everybody in this room."

The beauty in this bald declaration of love is that it is completely real, and it's a product not of the jubilation of victory but the sure knowledge that everyone in that room had done everything possible to achieve it.

It's just one game, every week is just one game, but preparing and playing this way becomes a marvelously empowering discipline and a habit.

As fans, you begin to feel the certainty that this group will rise on silver wings, because they share a commitment that reveals itself in a hundred ways.


Posted by Dale Bliss at 5:09 AM

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