Oregon president thanks UA for hospitality

My wife Jan and I want to thank the fans in red who made our recent trip to Tucson enjoyable. Many University of Oregon fans spoke to us before and during the game of how welcoming and friendly the UA fans were. This was our impression in walking the campus as well. The unfortunate bottle-throwing incident after the game does not reflect our overwhelmingly positive experience. I am very grateful to UA President Shelton for his kindness, his concern, and his quick response. The unfortunate incident is not indicative of the character and class of the University of Arizona’s great fans.

Richard W. Lariviere

President, University of Oregon

I completely agree with the Daily Wildcat editorial board when they write that fan behavior at Saturday’s football game and “”College GameDay”” event was both embarrassing and unacceptable.

What the Daily Wildcat forgot to mention, however, was the fact that it was one of the members of its editorial board — the group responsible for formulating the opinion calling it such — was responsible for one of the most egregious acts of the weekend.

When this person took it upon himself, prior to “”College GameDay,”” to tear down a sign that an older man was holding, that read “”God bless the Oregon Ducks,”” they crossed the line and kicked off a day of embarrassment for the UA and its fans.

So I guess it’s OK when you censor other people, just not when they censor you.

As a former Wildcat writer and assistant editor I know that newspapers make news out of other people’s misfortunes, but this just means that when people who work for the newspaper paper screw up they should be held to an equal, if not a higher standard. To try and push this under the rug is unacceptable, unfathomable and frankly hypocritical.

I don’t want to be the one to call this person out by name, rather, I think they should take the opportunity to come clean and take responsibility for their actions.

Or maybe, it’s time for them to grow some balls and confess already.

Ian Friedman

Journalism senior

‘GameDay’ Top 10 article promoted bad behavior among football fans

In the article “”GameDay Top 10,”” No. 2 and No. 1 should have the writer eliminated from his position. 

As an alumnus, I can tell you that as a student, the Daily Wildcat has always been highly respected … until now. No. 2, which suggests “”Pick a fight with a Duck,”” is nothing but disrespectful and enticing to an ignorant student. Even if it is a small number of the population that could have been all they needed to feel like fighting and water bottle throwing would be accepted. No. 1: Rush the field?  We were as good as Oregon! We would be 8-2 coming into the game minus a couple of fluke plays that didn’t go our way. Telling the students to rush the field was telling them that we didn’t belong in the stadium with Oregon … which was not even close to the truth!

Also, if you were going to write about rushing the field why wouldn’t you talk about how students rushed the field too early last time Oregon was here and that they need to wait until the clock hits zero? I am furious about this article and a lot of high-powered alumni are too. 

There needs to be a reprint apologizing for No. 2 or No. 1 at the least. If you ask me, the person who wrote this is as ignorant as the students that rushed early, the water bottle thrower or the person who fought with the Oregon fan over their sign. It is not right to have this type of ignorant person in a position where they can write stories that 30,000 kids read on a weekly basis. As a proud Wildcat alumnus I can only hope that at the least something is done about this article to educate the students for future games and apologize for what was written in No. 2 and No. 1.