As we start to get a bit of a community built here at ATQ, I'd like to pose this question: why are you an Oregon Duck fan?
I was in 6th grade in 1994, and my boy scout troop had to usher a couple of games at Autzen to earn money. One of those games was the UO/UW game that year. I was in house for "The Pick," even though I knew nothing about football and had no idea what was going on. I did not grow up a sports fan, that happened more in middle school.
Needless to say, I found the excitement at Autzen to be quite amazing. I became a casual fan. I watched some games, certainly not all, and, interestingly enough, a lot more basketball games at first than football games (even though it was football that got me into the Ducks, I just liked basketball better as a sport). With every passing year, I became a little bit more of a fan.
However, my family pretty much detested sports, and it wasn't until my freshman year of college that I would actually make my return to Autzen. By this time (2001), I had been a pretty serious fan for a couple of year. But it was in college that I really took it to the extreme as far as never missing a game for anything whatsoever, reading up on opponents ahead of time, etc. Now, I write about the team every day. I'm not sure that any more obsession is possible, at least not if I want to keep my job and my marriage (the wife is a Duck alum too, by the way. I wouldn't settle for less). Hell, we named our son Luke Aaron.
Anyway, long story short: Grew up in Lane County+Alum+Sports Fan=completely obsessed.
Why are you a fan? For many, it will be that you are alumni. For some, you have no formal connection to the University. I'm interested in hearing your stories.
GO DUCKS!!!
--Dave
Blazers Edge recently had this same question. My intent isn't to copy BE, but I enjoyed reading those, and wanted to see about my readers.