NCAA Track And Field In Eugene

[daytonadan1983]

My first trip to Track Town!

Do you good people have any recommendations for restaurants and places to go?

 

[SpeedTchr]

Everyone will say Track Town Pizza, so there's that.

I loved Cafe Soriah (Home), a Mediterranean place.

Agate Alley Bistro is within walking distance from the track, had good meals there.

The Original Pancake House. 'Nuff said.

Sadly, Papa's Soul Food Kitchen closed. That hurts.

 

[murphyc]

Dan, when are you in town? I work in Eugene and wouldn't mind taking you out for a bite if our schedules line up.
I keep meaning to try out Sizzle Pie for pizza downtown. Oregon Electric Company is good, though a bit pricey.
Johnny's Ocean Grille in the Oakway Center is pretty good. If you like calzones, the Dough Company is good stuff.

 

[SpeedTchr]

Oregon Electric Company

Oregon Electric Station? Good call. And yes, a bit on the high side.

I enjoyed the Steelhead Brewery down the street, too.

Forgot to mention Voodoo Doughnut. And Albee's NY Gyros, a hole in the wall place at 391 W 11th.

 

[playthrough]

My wife went to Track Town last year for a story, was her first track meet. She called me the first night giddy with excitement over the atmosphere and great performances. I chewed her out over how I spent countless afternoons and weekends covering lousy meets between West and East Bumfu*ck High, and she gets the friggin' NCAA championships. Argh.

 

[daytonadan1983]

I just got a chuckle out of my AAD when I said I'm taking the BYU and Liberty guys to buy weed legally....

 

[ChrisLong]

Dan, when are you in town? I work in Eugene and wouldn't mind taking you out for a bite if our schedules line up.
I keep meaning to try out Sizzle Pie for pizza downtown. Oregon Electric Company is good, though a bit pricey.
Johnny's Ocean Grille in the Oakway Center is pretty good. If you like calzones, the Dough Company is good stuff.

Oregon Electric was always the go-to spot for writers traveling into Eugene for football game. It catered the Autzen Stadium press box, too.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Prince Puckler's Ice Cream right next to Hayward Field is worth a stop.

Newman's on Willamette has probably the best fish and chips I've ever eaten.

Maybe a half-mile from Hayward you can go see the rock Steve Prefontaine slammed into, killing him.

Highly recommend walking/running Pre's Trail along the river. Beautiful scenery, and a good way to get to Autzen by foot if you want to see the ridiculous football compound.

You can drive up to the top of Skinner's Butte and get a great view of the city.

 

[micropolitan guy]

There's a great place on 19th within easy, easy walking distance of Hayward.

Beppe & Gianni's Trattoria, Eugene - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - TripAdvisor

 

[murphyc]

Daytonadan, glad you've been enjoying your time in Eugene. Great to meet you today!

 

[SpeedTchr]

Fine weather you're having there!

 

[micropolitan guy]

June weather is always dicey. This weekend was like late March or April. Other times it can be in the 80s-90s, with pollen counts over the top. Might not be the best place to land for a permanent site, but then again it is pretty much the only place in the country that cares about track.

 

[SpeedTchr]

That meet was beyond tremendous. Spectacular performances, many in crappy weather.

 

[da man]

June weather is always dicey. This weekend was like late March or April. Other times it can be in the 80s-90s, with pollen counts over the top. Might not be the best place to land for a permanent site, but then again it is pretty much the only place in the country that cares about track.

OMG, you just brought back memories of covering the 2001 NCAA meet in Eugene. It was a really bad spring for my allergies that year, and I was just getting over them when I traveled from Texas, where summer had begun and the spring pollen was all but gone, to Oregon, where spring was in full bloom.

I got floored by it almost from the second I stepped out of the airport. I was miserable the entire time -- could barely breathe, and nothing I took worked. I was informed that week that part of Oregon produces a huge percentage of the grass seed sold in the U.S., and I felt every bit of it in my head.

The meet itself was great, though. A freshman phenom from Tennessee named Justin Gatlin won the 100 and 200, and the Vols beat TCU for the men's team title by one point after TCU star (and future world champion) Kim Collins false-started out of the 200.

 

[SpeedTchr]

OMG, you just brought back memories of covering the 2001 NCAA meet in Eugene. It was a really bad spring for my allergies that year, and I was just getting over them when I traveled from Texas, where summer had begun and the spring pollen was all but gone, to Oregon, where spring was in full bloom.

I got floored by it almost from the second I stepped out of the airport. I was miserable the entire time -- could barely breathe, and nothing I took worked. I was informed that week that part of Oregon produces a huge percentage of the grass seed sold in the U.S., and I felt every bit of it in my head.

The meet itself was great, though. A freshman phenom from Tennessee named Justin Gatlin won the 100 and 200, and the Vols beat TCU for the men's team title by one point after TCU star (and future world champion) Kim Collins false-started out of the 200.

Ahhhhhh, 2001. A vintage year. All Collins had to do was finish the 200 and TCU would have at least tied for the team title. Finish seventh? Frogs win it all.

 

[poindexter]

There was never a thread in the sports section, but the USC women's 4X400 come from behind win to win the race and team title was the most exciting sporting event I've seen this year.

 

[daytonadan1983]

Run down of my Eugene experience....

1) It was my first NCAA national tournament as an SID.
2) Hayward Field oozed greatness. A privilege to get to see it before it gets modernized --- those press box stairs were not easy
3) My coach didn't set me up for a media credential ... I had University administration ... and I did what any of you would have done ... took full advantage of it.
4) One of those perks was a trip to the Nike Company store. That place -- and the deep discount -- can turn anyone into Sarah Jessica Parker's character in Sex In The City
5) The other perks were the receptions at the football stadium and the Oregon Electric Station. Wow.
6) Of course it rained. It was Oregon.
7) The location where they filmed the food fight in Animal House is now a Chiptole/Starbucks whatever...&*&^%$ sacrilegious.
8) Didn't get to buy weed legally. Darn. Did find a great burger at Hop Valley Brewery in Springfield -- in fact, it was a Big Kahuna burger with a pineapple, fry sauce and a waiter that knew why a quarter pounder w/cheese isn't called that in France.
9) Poindexter is right. In fact, the whole meet was exciting. NBA finals were an afterthought.
10) Great to meet murphyc, compare Earnhardt and racing notes and prove this is a board of good folk.

Thanks to those who made suggestions, hopefully, I can do those in 2021....

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Run down of my Eugene experience....

7) The location where they filmed the food fight in Animal House is now a Chiptole/Starbucks whatever...&*&^%$ sacrilegious.

One of the joys of going to school there was constantly discovering places used in the film. There's a grass field right above Hayward (that probably has soccer fields or something now) -- that's where they hit Niedermeyer's horse with the golf ball. I had several philosophy and sociology classes in the room where Donald Sutherland lectured about Milton. I had a class my senior year in a room I'd never been in before and couldn't figure out why it was so familiar - then I realized it was used for the Deltas' council hearing. ("I'm not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America! Gentlemen?")

The best was once I graduated and was working as a TV photog in Eugene, and shot an interview with the university president in his office. In the middle of it I realized it was Dean Wormer's office. They let them use the actual office for the film. I was standing where the horse dropped dead.