The New Voice of the Ducks? Uh, Not Quite

On Thursday, I got to help escort Mikayla's first grade class on their field trip to Autzen. We've had some very unusual weather here in our neck of the woods - thunderstorms......(so thankful we got the triathalon done successfully), but getting hit by a monsoon was the last thing on my mind when I got Mikayla dressed for the field trip. I felt like such a bad mom not having even given her a jacket, but it's been in the 70's - didn't see a flash flood scenario coming!

Anyway, this is us, standing around like drowned rats at the WRONG city bus stop...which turned into a score for me, as this location is literally a block away from our house and I was able to drive home quickly and grab her something more while we waited the additional 10 minutes for the bus going our direction to come!




When we arrived at the Duck Shop, we were surprised to find that they were in the midst of a webcast featuring Jerry Allen, "the voice of the Ducks" (he is the radio announcer for all of their games). For those kiddos that had their mom or dad present, they were able to be interviewed on the webcam. So fun! I quickly whispered to Mikayla to mention that she knew Cyrus, the record-holding UO javelin thrower, but instead this was what happened during their dialogue:

JA: So, are you a Duck fan?
M: Yah
JA: Do you like sports?
M: Yah
JA: Do you play any sports?
M: Uh, not really
JA: Well, what do you do at recess?
M: Uh, just walk around
JA: What are you going to do this summer?
M: Um, just stay inside our house......

So, I don't really feel like she "represented the Rileys" with her responses, but on the plus side, Jerry Allen did think she was really cute......(If you watch the webcast, fast forward 1 hour and 45 minutes - click on the 6-4-09 archived file).......


Following the Duck Shop, we got to listen to these two girls talk about their roles as cheerleaders for the Ducks. The whole point of the field trip was to identify "cool jobs" and prove to the kids that even though you go to college to play sports, you won't necessarily do that job as a career for life. So, we spend a lot of time talking to folks with different sports-related careers (marketing, event planning, etc.) - as well as finding out what the career aspirations of these two were. We also heard from Garren Strong, who played for the Ducks a few years ago and now designs merchandise for Nike.

Finally, on the Autzen field (where it had obviously gotten sunny) - and then lunch in the media skybox.......what a view!!!! All in all, one of my favorite field trips so far!