Oregonians act petulant after bad loss
The Oregon Ducks suffered a 38-31 loss to the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday in overtime at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., but that’s not the main story for columnist John Canzano of The Oregonian in Portland.
Canzano lamented the behavior of several Oregon fans after the game. A video posted by The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings showed fans throwing bottles at Stanford players as they left the field into the tunnel at Autzen Stadium.
“I was on the field in the final five minutes of regulation and the entire overtime,” Canzano wrote. “I stood behind one of the officials on the sideline as a water bottle whizzed by and someone threw a roll of electrical tape. Also, there was a lot of profane shouting from a faction of angry fans. And I get it … people were upset and disappointed at a meltdown. But the videos that circulated after the event are ugly.
“[Oregon] should be looking to identify and ban any fan guilty of bad behavior after the game. Won’t be hard with the video evidence out there. But a bigger point has to be made here — because that display became us.
“Not literally. Unless you’re the shirtless guy in the video it wasn’t you or me. But it was — US — collectively as the nation watched Oregonians absorb a disappointing loss. And we looked like a bunch of whining, crying, unhinged, immature, profane idiots.
“It got me thinking about the Timbers Army and Timbers games. Say what you will about the MLS crowd, but I’ve observed on numerous occasions a Timbers fan throwing something onto the field … followed immediately by other Timbers fans policing the guilty party by pointing him out to security. I’ve literally seen an entire section of fans point at the person who tossed something onto the field. It makes a strong statement about that fan base. One that shouldn’t be lost here. It’s incumbent upon stadium security to do its job. But as humans, we also have a job to do and a standard to uphold.”