I bought in. Two season tickets. Lower level at Reser Stadium next football season. Not as a journalist. Not as a fan. Maybe as a sucker, we'll find out.
What's certain is that I'm the proud owner of a pair of Oregon State tickets for next football season. And I purchased them knowing I'll probably end up giving them away.
I'll sit in the press box at the OSU football games. I've been there for 16 years, covering the program. A sports columnist is always a stakeholder. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I've never much cared if the Beavers won or lost games. Only that they were compelling and that they finished the games a shade before print deadline. But what I've never done is take a leap and try to understand what it is to be financially invested in the Beavers' product.
I do today.
I'm a little uneasy. Also, optimistic. Like one of those greased-up blokes about to step off the shore into the English Channel and begin swimming. Maybe you feel like you're rowing the boat alongside me. Maybe you're in the water yourself, up to your chin in late kickoffs and the Pac-12 Network mess.
My hope is that OSU has figured something significant out by reaching into the most electric era of its football history and hiring Jonathan Smith as coach. My fear is that I end up feeling like a guy swimming with only one arm.
Strong tides. Choppy conference waters. A season-opener at Ohio State. Home dates against USC and Oregon. Those are the obstacles. I've been a season ticket holder before. I bought Timbers tickets in their inaugural season. That experience didn't make me fall in love with soccer, but it helped me understand the gift that is the Timbers Army. And I've bought lots of Blazers, Ducks, Winterhawks and Hops single-game tickets for friends and family. But fully immersing myself in this "Build. A. Dam." thing is a different trip. It's a speculative ride.
I need advice navigating it. So I called my old friend Mike Rich. He's a successful Hollywood screenwriter and die-hard Beavers fan. Rich listened as I told him I now own a couple of season tickets. His initial response was right out of a prison yard.
"I'm in for life," Rich said.
He's served more than 20 seasons so far. A few of them more enjoyable than the rest. There were the Kragthorpe and Pettibone eras. And Craig Fertig and Joe Avezzano sold buckets of hope, too. It wasn't all bad though. Mike Riley once won 29 regular season games in a three-year period. That was a blast. But last season Gary Andersen basically went 1-11 and left in the middle of the night.
Rich? He didn't leave. He never will.
Keep in mind this is the same screenwriter who wrote "Finding Forrester," "Secretariat," "The Rookie" and "Miracle," among others. Said Rich, "You know me, John, I love underdog stories. I made a living on underdog stories... but you know, as much as I love an underdog story, I love it most when they stop being underdogs."
Rich is bullish on Smith. Loves the guy. Rich remembers sitting in Husky Stadium on a cold, miserable day in 1998 and watching Smith, then the Beavers quarterback, make his college debut. He remembers 469 passing yards in two and a half quarters. He remembers seeing the promise of something that would eventually flourish over time into a magical Fiesta Bowl season and that drubbing of Notre Dame.
"All I want," said Rich, "at some point in the season is the feeling I had in Seattle in 1998, where I just kind of saw this glimpse of promise. I see that and it's 'I'm with you guys... I'm on board.'"
Rich's first year as a season-ticket holder came in Smith's first season as a full-time starter. It was the first winning season in almost 30 years for Oregon State. The screenwriter has a chunk of old, hardened turf from what was Parker Stadium in his home office. It's a reminder of what once was, and what might be.
"I'm bullish on Smith in a big, big way," said Rich.
This really is all about Smith, isn't it? He's what's changed. He's 0-0 and currently touring the state with Oregon State's other coaches, shaking hands and drumming up enthusiasm. There was a visit to Portland on Monday and Tuesday. Salem on Wednesday night. Then, on to Medford and Eugene. Then, the OSU tour heads to Seattle. But first, the new football coach is on the other end of the telephone with me, armed with a question.
"So where are your seats?" he asks. "You have a suite?"
Not a suite. Goal-line. Lower level. New side of the stadium so I can see my seats from my folding chair in the press box.
Smith wants to know if I'm going to give my tickets to people who will become part of a crowd interested in screaming its spleen out. He remembers deafening roars in that stadium. He knows he'll have to win home games to be competitive in the Pac-12 Conference.
"I've been an opponent here, too," Smith said. "It's not easy to get here as a visiting team. You throw in that it's loud and that's a home-field advantage. One of the steps to getting this thing back on track is making this place a home field advantage. These people are loyal. If it can get going we'll really have something."
Smith wants a team that will compete. Me too. He wants a team that will finish games. Me too. He knows the conference is difficult. We all know that. But he also knows that people who approach him to talk about their support of the program typically bring up the Fiesta Bowl. They know it will take time but they're betting on Smith.
A couple of seats at Reser Stadium suggest I am as well. Beaver Nation, let me know where the tailgate is.