Murray Can’t Think About Running for Governor of Oregon

Dear Mr. Murray,

I understand your lament that one of the “better” teams from the Pacific 10 will not be representing the conference this year. We all know how God-like the Nittany Lions are, stuffing that terrific Illinois offense (31 points), pounding an excellent Indiana team (35-29) and only allowing Northwestern 475 yards, including 275 through the air.

I will go slowly, realizing your football IQ is on the wrong side of the Bell Curve, and explain some facts. Oregon won its last six games. The Ducks beat, among others, USC, Arizona and Washington. When they played a suspect defense (Stanford), they crushed them. They won the Pac-10 title outright. I know, you still believe there are better teams in the conference who could stay on the field with Penn State. Who, perchance, are they?

Feel free to write more disparaging remarks on the Ducks. Please build Penn State up all you want. They will simply make more noise when they fall.

CHARLES CARLSON

Portland, Ore.

*

Shame on you, Jim Murray.

Your attack on the Ducks was too bad. You could have taken a different path. Why not celebrate the Cinderella aspect of this team? Why not recognize that the Ducks have overcome every obstacle to claim sole possession of a great football conference championship?

Part of the joy that many on the West Coast feel for the Ducks comes from their climb through the vitriolic pessimism of prognosticators like yourself who said at season’s start that Oregon would finish far back in the Pac-10.

Maybe you have given up in your own personal struggles. Maybe you still look for a note from your doctor to get you out of a tough assignment, but these young men of Oregon haven’t and don’t. They’ll be in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2 believing in themselves.

Take your sarcasm out of the oven--it’s a bit hard-baked.

REID HUGH STEWART

Eugene, Ore.

*

Love your column. Read it every chance I get. You make me laugh. You even make me want to become a sports columnist at times.

But you’re wrong about the Oregon football team. Nothing I say will convince you of that, so we’ll just have to wait until Jan. 2.

I can understand a little ribbing about the matchup. But you went overboard. I kept expecting you to come back with a favorable comment to soften the tone, but you never did. You never recognized the Ducks’ achievements. No pat on the back. No offer of any hope from a nationally recognized and respected member of the media. You just buried the knife and then kept on twisting it.

You know the players will read your column. And don’t think it won’t mean a lot to them. I don’t know what your goal was in writing it, but I hope it has a positive impact on the team.

KEVIN LAMB

Eugene, Ore.

*

Your inability to deal with the fact that a Southern California school was not good enough to represent the Pac-10 in this year’s Rose Bowl is obvious, and amusing to Oregonians.

We only hope the caravans of Oregon Duck fans returning from Pasadena after a Duck victory won’t have more Oregon-bound stowaway Californians aboard, looking to escape the L.A. area in search of a better quality of life--and the Pac-10 title.

TIM FLEISCHER

Portland, Ore.

*

It is apparent that you are not only unaware of how Oregon accomplished its well deserved trip to the Rose Bowl, but of biblical history as well. So, it is our duty to inform you that David did defeat Goliath, and with only one small stone.

JOHN LEONE

and MARTIN KEHRLI

Eugene, Ore.

*

You can keep your smog, traffic, earthquakes, illegal immigrants, droughts, fires, mudslides, riots, killer bees and O.J. Simpson. And you can keep your insults to yourself.

TERRI PETERSON

Eugene, Ore.