As Beavers, we’ve become accustomed to disappointment. Growing up whenever I watched an OSU game with my grandfather, at some point he would invariably say something along the lines of “I wonder how we’ll flub it up this time.” No matter the sport, no matter the situation, we’re geared to expect the worst.

Well, we don’t have to expect it anymore. I think the worst is here. It has nothing to do with our performance on the court, in fact you can make the case (and our athletic department has been) that our athletic department is accomplishing things across the board that we’ve never seen in Corvallis. Gold medalists in gymnastics. Since 2020, the men’s soccer program has produced the national player of the year (Glorie Amanda), two Pac-12 players of the year (Sofiane Djeffal and Joran Gerbet), and an Elite 8 run. Both golf teams have qualified for the NCAA finals in the past few years.Two rowers (Giulia Clerici and Evan Park) were part of gold medal winning boats at the U23 World Rowing Championships this summer. 

Things are good in Corvallis on the field of play, but unfortunately that’s not where the games are being played right now. They’re being played in board rooms. All that #BackThePac stuff of the past decade was crap. Personally, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. When the rubber met the road though, every school made a decision that was best for them and said to hell with the rest of you. USC was the first. UCLA, by virtue of being close to USC was next. Colorado, Oregon, Washington, the Arizonas, Utah…..the leadership at these schools made bad decision after bad decision and then, when there were no more bad decisions to make, valued short term gain over long term stability. ESPN’s future is murky at best. Amongst schools that have jumped conferences in the past decade, really only Utah has had sustained success in football. 

Rumors are now swirling that Stanford is willing to take no money to join the ACC, essentially paying them to join their club. If that’s not a nerd move from a movie about high school, I don’t know what is. Next thing you know, they’ll be doing the North Carolina Tar Heels homework for them in exchange for an endorsement to be prom king. Keep in mind that Stanford and it’s $36 billion endowment almost cut 11 sports back in 2020 because they were facing a projected $25M shortfall…..less than what they’d be facing to join the ACC without any media revenue. 

Nobody’s sure what Cal’s plan is, but they’re receiving a kickback from UCLA (anywhere from $2 to $10M). Could Stanford also offer to float them some cash to drag them into the ACC too so they would have a travel buddy? I’d say that’s ridiculous, but ALL OF THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

What is clear is that nobody is offering to help OSU out. If Stanford (STANFORD!) has to beg a conference on the other side of the country to take it in and also pay them for the privilege, what do you think the BigXII is going to ask from us? 

The time for feeling sorry for ourselves is done. I’ve been mopey for two weeks now, complaining how it’s not fair, how we don’t deserve this, how it’s not our fault that we occupy a relatively remote part of the country or pointing out that we compare fairly comparably to many P4 institutions. No more. It’s time to start punching back.

Our kindred spirits in all this, Washington State, have figured this out. Last week they put out a video with the tagline “Cougs vs. Everybody.” They’re done listening to everyone take pity on them. They’re ready to show everyone what being a Cougar means. Yesterday, they had over 3,000 people show up for the first sporting event of the 23-24 year: a women’s soccer game vs. Eastern Washington. Their final game of 2022, an Apple Cup matchup vs. UW, drew less than 1,000. They’re not sitting back and waiting. They’re showing people what they’re made of.

Beaver Nation needs to follow suit. No matter the opponent, no matter the weather, we need to start showing people that we care. The time for puffing our chests out in Twitter Spaces, message boards, podcasts, or long winded editorials on belligerentbeavs.com is over. It’s time to show up and show out. If you have the time and money, find your way to Corvallis for a game. If you live out of state, go see the Beavs on the road. Travel with them. Wear orange as much as possible when you leave the house. Make a donation to a sport other than football (they’re gonna need it). 

Women’s soccer got the revenge tour off to a great start with a tough 1-0 victory on the road over San Francisco. The first chance to see any Beav teams in Corvallis on Thursday, August 24th with a soccer doubleheader (Women at 2pm vs. UCSD and Men at 5pm vs. FIU). JP, play me the last five seconds of Ruff Ryder’s Anthem by DMX). Time to stop worrying about TV ratings, market size, endowment dollars, AP polls, all of it.

Just be a fan.