[Editor's Note - dvieira]: This is a great take and a heart-warming story wrapped up with a little bow. Go Ducks!

I’ve been thinking about the events of today, and the current off-season, and the offense without Jeremiah Masoli, but the more I think about them, the better I feel about our future.  As a fan I’m sure disappointed with the team and the situation as a whole, but I don’t think it kills our chances to be good in 2010 or beyond.  We’ll take a ripping in the media and from Fuskies fans, but we’re the reigning Pac-10 Champions and all the DawgPound tears in the world can’t take that away from us.

In 2008 we went into the season with a big batch of quarterbacks and no idea what would come out of it.  It was a welcome surprise to see Masoli come out of that as the star and simply amazing to see him take the team to the Rose Bowl, but Costa and Thomas were always seen as starter-quality players, not career backups.  Having a guy who can run for 100 yards and truck cornerbacks is great, but a crisp passing attack and just a little running from the trigger man can be equally effective.  Remember the 2007 Sun Bowl?

But this is bigger than the last couple seasons or what happens this fall.  Personally, I look back to my dad, who was a lifelong Duck fan.  He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last year just after his 56th birthday, we got to watch the Holiday Bowl win and the Super Bowl together and then just a few weeks later he was gone.  I wasn’t a Ducks fan or a sports fan when I was younger, but around 2005 I started watching games with my dad and learning about his team, the Oregon Ducks.  He told me about the glory days of Joey Harrington, about Rich Brooks and how he moved the program forward.  Heck he even told me stories about living in Eugene in the 70’s and playing pool against Prefontaine.  Watching the Ducks every Saturday became our ritual, we’d cheer and high five and I’d treat every play like it was the end of the world, but my dad was very patient and always reminded me that the game lasted 60 minutes and a single play or series was never the end.

I think about all those years my dad was a devoted fan, all those years where .500 was a successful season, all those rivalry losses, and all that time patiently waiting for the program to develop into a contender.  The history of our football program didn’t begin with The Pick, and a lot of fans didn’t have the luxury of starting each season debating about a big bowl game or national rankings, heck they just wanted to get one win over .500 and not get blown out by the Huskies!  Can you imagine what Rich Brooks would have given to have two guys with the talent of Nate Costa and Darron Thomas back then?

In 2007 during the epic Dixon / Stewart run I was on the edge of my seat every game, next to my dad.  I was touring a bit as a musician and I’d take a cell and call my dad for scores while on the road, or even during breaks between songs during night games.  We high-fived during the USC win, and paced the living room together like little kids during the final drive in the Cal game.  When things were over and Dixon got hurt I was just crushed, and my dad was sad too, but he saw the big picture.  He told me “I’ve been a Duck fan for a lot longer than you, in my whole life there have only been a few times we ever came close to making it all the way to the top, and in your whole life you may never seen another season like this one.  So enjoy it and enjoy the ride because I’ve followed the Ducks for a long time and special seasons like this don’t come around every year.”

The Masoli era was great; he took us farther than anyone could have dreamed when he first stepped onto the field in green and yellow.  I know my dad would have been so very proud to see our Rose Bowl run.  But even if the Masoli era of Oregon Football is over now it’s a sign of how far our program has come, to have so much talent and depth.  Heck, to win the Pac-10 with a guy who had several games passing for less than 100 yards is pretty darn remarkable.  What we have now is a team that can compete every year because it was built by years of hard work and supported by fans that probably put up with more than most of us young guys ever would. 

Lastly, I think it’s important to remember that Dennis Dixon was a surprise in 2007.  He’d shared time with Brady Leaf and many people wanted to see Leaf as the starter that year.  At the end of that season Justin Roper became a surprise with his showing in the Sun Bowl.  In 2008 Jeremiah Masoli was a huge surprise, going from recruiting afterthought to 5th on the depth chart to Holiday Bowl star.  And we all watched him do some pretty remarkable and surprising things (both good and bad) this last year.  I have no idea who will be the starter against New Mexico in the fall, but this won’t be our first year with questions at QB, or our first year without a blue-chip passer waiting to take over, but that hasn’t kept us from being successful in the past. 

My point in all this is that our team stands where it does today because of years of hard work both on and off the field.  No single player, transgression, or disciplinary action can undo all those years of development.  Boise State and Blount couldn’t stop last season from being a huge success, and these new suspensions won’t keep us from competing this year.