The University of Oregon Finally Admits that McArthur Court Exists
We once again preemptively eulogize Mac Court, while taking a deep dive into Oregon's Instagram, and their ever-important lens of "new."
March means Men’s & Women’s NCAA Tournaments, and with that, the University of Oregon has busted out the Nike swag train for both teams as they prepare for the postseason—but this first announcement feels much different.
When it comes to the Ducks’ official social media, the latest nike shoe or jacket or duffel bag is usually photographed with a slick, modern eye (think: every UO Football uniform announcement since 2012). It’s all carefully curated.
Even the small peeks of gear that you might see on a student-athlete’s social media are planned out. You’ll notice that the packages are typically delivered to the players in the ultra-modern locker rooms, and not their average college apartment or dorm.
Part of this is how Oregon has won, right? UO’s status as The School of the Future is absolutely due, in part, to its understanding that everything is communication.
The glass facade and infinity fountains of the Jaqua Center is communication. The weight room is communication. And make no mistake about it, even the Panda Express in the Erb Memorial Union is communication.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the GoDucks social accounts all center around everything new. It’s the new Autzen jumbotron, the new-ish Death Star football offices, New Hayward Field.
The University is so hyper-aware of “new” that even when they professionally photograph the apparently-not-new-enough Matthew Knight Arena to show off a new uniform, the background is heavily shadowed, and the Tall Firs court design is largely hidden—because MKA is sooo 2011, I guess.
Some of it is just good art direction, yes, but it all sends a message.
At the end of the day, the pretty, modern buildings get to take center stage, because that’s how we want the world to think of us.
That’s why I was surprised to see this year’s first “NCAA Tourney Gear Drop” for the Men and Women.
The teams were gifted these new retro Jordan 7 in the flashy-looking concourse of MKA—as is tradition—but the shoes were also seperately photographed and filmed within the confines of the University’s very own failson: McArthur Court.
The most recent posts from GoDucks (pictured above) has showcased these retro Js in a way that defies all their pre-existing rules—paint chips and all.
The scuffed hardwood floor, the weird painter’s tape between the upper part of the “H” in “THE PIT,” and the fold up bleachers that spell out “D U C K S.” All of it exists in direct opposition to newness.
And I love it.
For once, I feel seen. I feel like they’ve finally acknowledged the giant pillar that has been obstructing my view of the court from the upper level—so to speak.
I’ve ranted before about my desire to save and maintain Historic Hayward Field, and when that failed, I hopped over to “saving” McArthur Court. I named this blog Ditch Rich because I have an abundance of love for the history of this University—though I’m certainly not blind to its mistakes.
All that to say that I’m an old-head at heart. But even I can admit that I’m basically resigned to the fact that everything I love about the University (and everything else) will one day be torn down and replaced by a newer, shinier thing.
Higher education’s own Ship of Theseus, in a sense.
I just generally appreciate when great care and consideration is given to the past, even though I know we have to move forward.
That’s why these photos—and a quick twitter film like the one above—are so awesome to me.
Imagine, if you will, that the University of Oregon is a local politician (they pretty much are). If all their buildings and facilities are their children, Mac Court has become the rebellious teenager that “accidentally” doesn’t get an invite to the public ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
With so much flash and growth all around campus, the U of O has made every effort to forget that the old barn even exists at all.
The once-storied building now serves as recreational sports facility, surplus office space while other campus buildings are getting demolished and rebuilt in the image of The School of the Future, and most recently, a temporary COVID testing site.
I’ve heard small rumors over the years that the Men’s or Women’s teams might schedule a preseason basketball game in the Mac. The ticket price to an event like that would be astronomical, but I also think there’s no way they’d ever do it.
Once again, they have poured so much money and energy into “new,” that the idea that they would ever intentionally hold a game in Eugene in a building that isn’t Matthew Knight Arena is just insane. Plus, they couldn’t sell 12,000 tickets.
The pipe-dream of one last hurrah for The Pit boils down to three things: money, image, and the sheer nightmare that McArthur Court may not even be foundationally strong enough to handle a sold-out game of modern of basketball.
You might say: “James, it’s a retro shoe, so they obviously just decided to take pictures of it in a retro place. This isn’t some landmark event to read so deeply into.”
But I actually took the liberty of scrolling through every post GoDucks has ever created. I searched for any acknowledgement that McArthur Court is still around, and I only found TWO (2) total images that featured it in any way.
The most recent was January 2, 2014, with a throwback image of Aaron Brooks. And the other one was a black and white image of Ronnie Lee, posted June 27, 2012.
That means that this week’s photos of those Jordans sitting in McArthur Court is the only official record via UO athletics’ social media that the building is a place that exists.
I don’t see that as just a run-of-the-mill creative choice.
Like I said, I know how this shit works. Mac Court is probably on its last legs. And there’s nothing I can do to stop The School of the Future from systematically smothering all my favorite, wonderfully decrepit parts of campus one-by-one.
I guess I’m just saying that I like it when they at least hold my hand while I drift off to sleep.
And that’s why this random Instagram post made me feel just a little better today.
With all that said, Save Mac Court.
& Go Ducks.
Honestly, it may be a "Why don't they make the whole plane out of the black box" logic but...why don't they just paint MKA like THE PIT and we can still have a new soulless arena, with some nods to our historic past.