Running commentary

My wife Deirdre, son Izaak, and I are at mid-year in our first year of working at Taejon Christian International School in Daejeon, South Korea, and friends back in Sisters Country have asked what are favorite experiences have been thus far.

There have been dozens of daily life experiences that are humorous and instructive, but there is one experience that has been the best so far. It is a story of homesickness, perseverance, and wonder.

Only a week or so after we arrived in South Korea in July, I saw a small announcement in the sports section of the English language version of The Korean Times newspaper that the University of Oregon men's basketball team would be playing Georgetown on November 7, in the second annual Armed Forces Classic at Camp Humphrey, which is about 60 miles from where we live here.

Being Duck alumni, Deirdre and I immediately imagined how cool it would be to able to see the game. I felt tremendously committed to make that happen right from the start, and set out to find out how to get a ticket.

In addition, one of our fellow educators at TCIS, Casey Mulvihill, is also a Duck graduate and, amazingly, went to high school in Bend. His parents, Lolly Tweed and Steve Mulvihill, live in Sisters.

We had a bond. His motivation matched mine and he began to work his angles to get to the game as well.

It did not take long to find out that there would be no tickets. The entire purpose of the game was to honor and entertain 2,000 troops living and working at Camp Humphreys, and they would be awarded through a lottery within the military system. Tickets could not be sold and would only go to people with access to the base.

I persisted. I met the cross-country coach at the high school at Camp Humphreys and he said he would see what he could do. Nothing panned out, but I appreciated his willingness to try to help.

Then, I decided to take a long shot. I contacted the University of Oregon's alumni magazine, Oregon Quarterly, and asked if I could cover the game as a freelance journalist with my wife as the photographer. My first two inquiries to the publisher were ignored, so I wrote to Ross West, the senior managing editor.

I got an email the next day, indicating he would run it by the editorial team. Two days later the message came through that both Deirdre and I would be granted press passes with the assignment to cover the game as a feature article for the spring edition of the magazine.

It took a bit of reassuring Deirdre that she was qualified for the assignment, but she soon embraced the idea.

Meanwhile, Casey was striking out, but he had a card up his sleeve that he finally revealed. He said he knew "someone" with connections at U of O who might be able to help him and his fiancé, Amy Wood, to attend.

I have been sworn to secrecy about who that "someone" is, but sometime in October, Casey and Amy got the green light as alumni guests.

The game was to be played on Saturday, November 7, at 8 a.m. in order to be televised by ESPN to the U.S. on Friday evening, so Deirdre and I showed up Friday morning to spend time with the players and the troops so we could gather material and photos for the story.

Steve Hoover, who would serve as our escort, met us at the gate and took care of us throughout our two days. A retired Army officer, Hoover came back to Korea to do civilian media work for the base and operates like a mini-tornado, collecting and dispensing information as naturally as breathing. In all of our time with him we never found him short of knowledge or opinion about every topic raised.

We spent the day getting acquainted with the sprawling camp, which is laid out like a small city. At noon we went to interview players and troops as the players served lunch and then joined the Oregon and Georgetown teams and coaches for a "meet and greet" for the military public,

It was about this time that I realized my entire motivation to come was because I was homesick and just wanted to meet some people with ties to Oregon. I met Josh Jamieson, the assistant director of basketball operations at U of O, and when I told him I was from Sisters, he asked, "Do you know Rand Runco?"

I jokingly told him I wasn't sure how to answer that question and we went on chatting. I was getting a taste of home I so wanted, right along with the troops.

Game day felt electric as the military personnel, all dressed in camouflage, filled the stands. Deirdre got her photo area assignment right next to professionals from Reuters and AP on the baseline, while I was ushered to the media table at courtside just to the right of Andy Katz, Jay Davis and Jay Bilas, the ESPN analysts.

My little "Oregon Quarterly" sign looked a little out of place next to the sports bigwigs, but I decided to just take it all in.

During warm-ups, I looked across the court and spotted Casey and Amy in full Duck regalia and texted them to ask how they liked their seats, which were right behind the Oregon bench, near mid-court.

Casey wrote back, "Great, almost as good as yours!"

Oregon won the game 82-75 to make the adventure just about perfect.

All that was left was to write the article and have Deirdre submit the photos, both of which were completed last week.

Oh, and the Ducks still haven't lost a basketball game this season.

When our colleagues back at TCIS heard about the lengths Deirdre, Casey and I went to in order to see the game, one said, "Man, you Oregonians just don't give up, do you?"

"Nope," I said. "We don't."