For the last eight years of my life I have undergone an identity crisis. And I don’t think I’ve been the only one.

In our day and age, growing up in one town and moving to another for college is not uncommon. Every year more and more people venture outside of their home states only to experience the doubt, guilt and confusion that I have learned to live with for the past eight years.

I was born a Duck fan in Eugene, Oregon in 1982. I attended my first Oregon scrimmage when I was just a few weeks old. I went to every home football game as a child and a teenager. I attended any and every sport camp the University put on in the summer and now I even have family that are employed under the great banner of green and yellow. But in 2004, I graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with a Trojan degree and four years of USC vs. Oregon match-up stress. It was the same debate every year… Do I pull out my yellow duck lips necklace that I’ve had since I was a kid and loudly blow a ‘quack’ for all to hear? Or do I raise my Victory ‘V’ in honor of the school that was providing me with a quality education and welcoming me into the infamous, (albeit slightly over-emphasized) “Trojan Family”?

The choice seems like an insignificant one to most, but not to me. The decision where to place my loyalty weighed on me every football season. There is something instilled in your being when you grow up in a college town like Eugene. Something special and rare. But Los Angeles puts on quite a shiny show for its Trojan occupants and I can’t say I haven’t been blinded by the lights and tempted to convert on more than one occasion.

It wasn’t until recently that these two very different sides of my existence finally met in peace in a place I call Los Eugene. A place where a born and bred Duck fan can be a USC season ticket holder and drive to the games in a car with an Oregon Ducks license plate. A place where I can wear a green and gold shirt that says USC across the front and be slightly pleased with the strange looks I receive while walking around the stadium. A place where I can quack for the Ducks, for my hometown, for the team that taught me to love the game… and at the same time sing along to one of the most played fight songs in college history. Because in Los Eugene, sports fans are encouraged to be passionate about where they came from and excited about where they are.

I grew up a Duck.

I graduated a Trojan.

I couldn’t be more proud.

MJ, Contributor