I always enjoy three day weekends. On Saturday a friend invited me to ride up to Eugene with him to attend a University of Oregon Basketball game at "The Pit" ( McArther Court). The Ducks beat Washington State in an afternoon game. It has been several years since I have been to a game there and I always enjoy returning to The Pit. As a young law student in the early 1970's I attended many games there when the "Kamikaze Kids" played for Coach Dick Harter. Those games were one of the highlights of my law schools days. Back then Oregon did not have much of a football team. I love Mac Court. The fans sit almost on top of the basketball court in 4 levels that are on top of each other. When full, the place really rocks with fanatic Duck fans. The building was built in 1927, yes 1927. In fact in 1997 when they replaced the original bleachers on the first floor, with theater-style seating, I bought a one foot section plank seat and it hangs as a plaque in my office along with a poster personally autographed by all of the Kamikaze Kids. In returning to The Pit I realized that as much as I love that place and all of it's memories it needs to be replaced with a new basketball arena. When I sat down in my seat behind the basket on the second level my knees hit the back of the seat in front of me and if any one knows me they know how short I am. The athletic Department is preparing the designs for a new arena. However it will be dependent on getting Nike head, Phil Knight, an Oregon alumni, to come up with most of the money for the new arena. The AD and the University have fumbled at least one attempt at building the new arena and I hope they can get Knight back on board.
On Sunday and Monday I updated our scrape books with 6 years of family pictures from 1999 up to 2006. Lot of things have happened to the Wickre family in the last six years with lots of life transitions. There have been graduations ( both high school and college), deaths of family members and pets, children growing up and leaving home for college and then on to new jobs, "empty nests," first cars, trips to Japan, Africa, Washington DC, New York, Florida, Disneyland, Arizona, Seattle etc. Life never stands still. Putting together photo albums illustrates how fast things change.
