(Eugene, OR) - Site of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Any other week and I could easily be on a bummer.
It's early June and my legs are still pale from a longer-than-normal winter. The closest motel vacancy I could find is 50 miles out of town. Long lines in every restaurant mean I'll be brown-bagging dinner. The Eugene forecast calls for even more cool, showery weather.
But this week, it's just too perfect...from an Oregon perspective.
Green Bay's Lambeau Field has its frozen tundra. The Boston Garden had its legendary unheated, smoke-filled visitors' locker room. Coors Field, in Denver's thin air, is a hitter's paradise and a pitcher's hell.
And Eugene's Hayward Field has its own set of quirks that always seem to translate into precious team points for its beloved Ducks.
That advantage may well prove to be the difference in 2010 with Florida, Texas A&M and Oregon in contention on the men's side and Texas A&M and Oregon the favorites on the women's side.
The very Hayward experience, which will surely benefit Oregon, ironically offers every other athlete an atm...
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