'This is my fourth season away, over here in a foreign country'
AL ASAD, Iraq -- While college football fans fill stadium seats, local bars and comfy couches, Oregon soldiers spend the season deprived of live games, cold beer and television. In Iraq, the season will go by very slowly.
KVAL.com decided to find Duck and Beaver fans serving in Iraq and bring their stories back home -- even if the games don't always make it overseas.
Meet Duck fans convoy commander Staff Sgt. James Jones, 34, of Mrytle Creek, Ore.; Driver Pfc. David Farrally, 29, of Eugene, Ore.; and Gunner Spc. Christopher Bond, 28, of Eugene, Ore. with Delta Co., 2nd Battalion of the 162nd Infantry of the 41st IBCT stationed Al Asad, Iraq.
Why are you a Duck fan?
Bond: I was born and raised in Eugene. Everyone in my family is a Duck fan. I've been going to Duck games since I was nine, and I’ve had season tickets since I was nine.
What prompted your Oregon tattoo?
Bond: Actually, some of my friends were just having a debate about who is the biggest Duck fan. I was like: I’ll put it over the top for you guys. First I got the O done and the next week I got the lettering (Oregon) done.
How many football seasons have you missed on deployments?
Bond: This is my fourth season away, over here in a foreign country. You got to do what you got to do.
How do 5 a.m. game times work with your schedules?
Jones: It works pretty good because we’re actually on a night schedule. I don’t got to bed until 5 or 6 a.m. anyways.
Bond: We were on a really long mission so we watched the Utah game at a different base. Last week I only watched half of the Cal game then went on a mission. On the way home [on the convoy] we got messages back from Sgt. Jones giving score updates. No way am I going on a two-hour ride and not know what’s going on. No way, there’s just no way.
How do you feel when Ducks games aren’t broadcasted on AFN (Armed Forces Network)?
Jones (at right): It’s annoying, but that’s why we have technology (they can watch on the Ozone website providing live stream of the game audio and visual of Duck games) even though the Internet stinks here. Yes, we watched the Cal game on TV and we blew up Cal.
Farrally: We watched Oregon play horribly against Boise State (with as shake of his head), and then we watched them kill California. I listened on the computer to the Utah game.
What is your response to the first game of the season?
Jones: Now the only team we’re looking at beating is ourselves, like in the Boise State game. We just did not play our game we had no offense on the field whatsoever and our defense played really great, which defense has done great all year. Our offense has only showed up at three games out of the four. See if our offense had showed up and they would have actually played and Masoli would have done some stuff with the ball instead of just running around and getting sacked all the time we would have had chance. We should be undefeated right now, probably in the top ten. Boise State’s ranked number five. They’re way over rated we want a shot at Boise state again.
Farrally: We want a rematch.
Jones: Bring 'em in the Pac-10, bring ‘em in there and well show Boise State who really could run the northwest because Boise State is over rated every year. It’s that blue turf, I’m telling you it’s that Smurf turf. That blue turf in Boise State (laughing). It’s ugly.
Bond: First game of the year? Just forget about that game it doesn’t count anymore. Offense is coming around; defense has played fantastic, that’s the reason why we have three wins. Offense fell apart in the first game, no blocking, run game got shut down, turnovers and everything, but now it’s a whole different team.
What lies in the future for the Ducks?
Jones: The way USC is playing Cal right now it looks like USC is pretty tough… but I think we can beat USC. I have faith in our offense.
Farrally: We potentially could win out the rest of this season if we play like we did against California.
What would you be doing at home during football season?
Jones: That’s one thing about being in Iraq, you don’t get football as good as you do at home, because right now I would be tailgating out with my friends at the game getting ready to walk into Autzen stadium and make some noise
Bond: I’d be sitting in my seats. Actually, I’d be on the field right now, on the sidelines. I usually go on the sidelines two or three times a year. I get passes sometimes, go out the tunnel behind the team.
Farrally: I will hopefully be home (on leave) for the Civil War game. My [civilian] boss has season tickets and he’s going to hook me and my wife [with tickets] up for the game.
What happens if you don’t make it home on time for the Civil War game?
Farrally: I will be very bummed. I try not to think about that.
Jones: We don’t try to think about the negatives in Iraq. You got to think more of the positives. Most of the time the negatives outweigh the positives. I need to have him there so he can cheer for us because I’ll be sitting here hopefully watching it on the TV.
Cali Bagby embedded with the Oregon Army National Guard from the 41st Infantry for KVAL.com. Her work has been published in the Washington Post and the Eugene Weekly.
More stories | Visit her Web site
