Welcome to Ditch Rich
A new "newsletter" focused on the University of Oregon, and named after an infamous set of t-shirts.
Welcome to Ditch Rich: An Oregon Duck Roundup by me, James Vos.
I’ve been writing on my own questionably legible website for a while now, and I previously covered Duck football for a website called Autzen Zoo. I’ve decided that a Substack newsletter might be the best way to grow my writing, and efficiently distribute my love of saying fun/stupid things about Oregon sports—in addition to my Twitter account.
That’s why I decided to start writing Ditch Rich.
“Ditch Rich” is a tagline/moniker from a moment in Duck history that I’ve always loved.
Make no mistake, my love for the phrase doesn’t come from a strong conviction that the 1994 Oregon Ducks should’ve fired Head Coach Rich Brooks after starting the season 1-2 with losses at Hawaii, and at home against Utah.
I love it because—despite that slow start, and despite Duck fans roaming the Autzen parking lot in “Ditch Rich” shirts—Coach Brooks just kept the faith, took the Ducks to that year’s Rose Bowl, and ultimately became such an Oregon legend that we ended up naming our literal football field after him.
And Rich never missed a moment to make a tongue-in-cheek remark about those damn t-shirts.
He still doesn’t.
I believe that my fandom and perspective on Oregon football, and the University of Oregon as a whole, is well-summed up by that story. My green and yellow world is shaped by my own special brand of: dumb, unswerving loyalty; ignorant optimism (read: homerism); and a love for the wonky history of failure that Oregon football was built upon.
I know that I would never have been caught dead wearing a “Ditch Rich” shirt, personally. Even after a 1-2 start, I can promise you that my 1994 twitter fingers would be on fire about those NegaDucks overreactions, and I would preach that we should trust Rich to right the ship. And of course, I would’ve ridden that blind faith train all the way to Pasadena.
You will absolutely hear criticism from me, you don’t have to worry about that. But if you’re looking for reactionary, angry, immediate calls for coaches to be fired or for players to be benched, you can head over to some of the less civilized corners of Duck Twitter™, because that ain’t what I came here to do.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and Subscribe so you don’t miss the first game preview, some biting satire, and whatever other genius takes on Duck history that cross my mind.
(If you’ve already subscribed via the link on my website, or if you’re reading this in an email, you’re already subscribed)
Go Ducks. And tell your friends (tell some of your enemies, too).