Ducks fly together....and so do colleges and famous animators.

So over the past several years, I've noticed a number of times that the mascot for the University of Oregon bears a striking resemblance to the world's most famous duck. See for yourself:



I've seen it on an occasional T-shirt, baseball cap, and the other day on the side of a semi truck (of all places). Being a fan of said duck, I thought "hey, that's cool. I wonder if Disney knows about it?" Turns out (thanks to Wikipedia, the dispenser of all knowledge) that they do! Apparently back in the early days, drawings of the Oregonian web-footed mascot started to resemble Uncle Walt's favorite fowl more and more. Eventually, one of the coaches from UO, who happened to know Walt, met up with him and asked permission. And since Disney was actually run by a talented, creative individual at that time (rather than the pack of money-grubbing, bloodthirsty executives that charge $25 for a hot dog at Disneyland nowadays), they got it. Amazing what a handshake could do back in '47, eh?

After seeing the noble duck on the side of a semi the other day, I started thinking having a T-shirt with him on it would be nice (since the Disney people can't seem to make a good Donald t-shirt to save their lives), and I started to look online for one. Nothing. I found loads and loads of Oregon swag, but only ONE lame t-shirt with my revered duck on it. I looked everywhere, no luck.

But the wikipedia article had one more nugget of knowledge to share. Turns out that the Disney company (sans Walt and already reforming into the all powerful, cash-worshiping empire we know today) renegotiated the license of their character in the 70's, and a time or two more since then. In the most recent one, they forbade (or at least severely limited) UO from selling merchandise with their character's likeness on it outside of the state of Oregon. And since UO was becoming a big-time sports school, and wanted to market their junk to the masses, um...en masse, they demoted the dauntless duck to "secondary" logo in favor of a stylized "O" that has all the enigmatic charm & personality of your average kitchen appliance.

And since I'm a duck fan and not a sports fan--I can only respond to this in the manner our dear duck friend would respond:

PHOOEY!!

Sheesh Disney, get over yourselves. :P

UPDATE: Wouldn't you know it, right after I get done with my cleverly-worded rant about a t-shirt, I find this. Get one of your own and support Donald! (and UO, if you're into that sort of thing).