I spend a lot of time walking my dog. And when I say a lot, I mean hours. Every day. Long enough that my mind wanders through an endless maze of thoughts—some profound, some utterly ridiculous. When your dog is committed to the art of mouse hunting, making friends with every passing pup, or spontaneously launching into zoomies across an open field, you have a lot of time to think.

Recently, my walks have been accompanied by the ideas in Philip Goff’s Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, which led me down a rabbit hole (or maybe a mouse hole, in Fiji’s case) of wondering what actually happens to consciousness after we die. If it is, as some suggest, an interaction between dark energy and the physical body, does it disperse into the universe like cosmic dust? And if that’s the case for humans, what about animals? Does a dog have a consciousness beyond instinct? Or is their entire existence purely physical, without any higher-order reflection?

These are the kinds of things my mind churns through while I watch Fiji sniff out yet another potential mouse den. And somehow—because this is how my brain works—it all loops back to Duck sports.

It’s the offseason for Oregon football, which always feels like a strange, slow-motion period of time. Football has an outsized gravity in Oregon’s athletic universe, and when it’s gone, everything else moves at a different speed. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to think about.

The 2017 Final Four men’s basketball team came to mind while walking yesterday. That team felt like a moment where everything aligned—experience, talent, coaching, and a little bit of magic. And it made me think about the current team: are they close to reaching that level again? The same question applies to Oregon women’s basketball, which has shown signs of resurgence this season, and baseball, which always feels on the cusp of something big but not quite there yet.

Some of the neighborhood dog-walking crew and I got into a conversation about Oregon sports the other day. One of them, originally from Iran, asked me what sport Oregon is really good at, besides football. It was a great question. Sometimes, being in the middle of it all, we assume everyone knows. But for someone unfamiliar with the inner workings of college athletics, it was an opportunity to explain just how deep Oregon’s sports legacy runs. Track and field? Legendary. Basketball? In the mix. Baseball and softball? Packed with potential.

And in that moment, I realized that sports, much like the thoughts that fill my long walks with Fiji, are all about perspective. The way we engage with them, the way we view their importance, and the way they shape our world—it’s all fluid. Some people see sports as entertainment, some as culture, and some (like me) as an endless source of analysis and discussion. And maybe, just maybe, like consciousness, a piece of every great moment in sports history disperses into the universe, leaving behind echoes of the teams, the games, and the athletes who made them special.

Or maybe I just need to stop letting my dog walks turn into philosophical deep dives.

But then again, what else are six-hour walks for?

Of course, I’m not done thinking about Oregon sports. This week, we’ll talk a little more about spring football, which is just about to get rolling. The anticipation for spring practice is always fun—especially with the number of official visits already lined up. Recruits are setting their sights on Eugene, and this is one of those times of year when you can see the next wave of talent taking shape.

There’s also plenty more basketball to discuss. The men’s team has had flashes of brilliance this season, but consistency has been an issue. The women’s team, meanwhile, has shown real improvement after a couple of tough seasons. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but the energy around both programs feels different than it did a year ago.

But for me, March and April mean something even bigger. The best time of the year, on a personal level, is about to hit: baseball season.

Baseball was my first love as a kid—the sport that always drew me to something beyond just my day job. There’s something about it that still brings back those feelings of being young, standing in an open field with the whole summer ahead, endless innings played until the sun finally dipped below the horizon. Maybe that’s why my mind feels a little clearer when the first sunny days start rolling in. The ramblings seem less incoherent because they remind me of those days gone by, when baseball was everything.

I’m excited to see what Coach Waz and the team can do this year. Oregon baseball always feels like it’s on the verge of something great. There have been glimpses of real potential, but the Ducks haven’t quite reached the same heights in baseball that they have in football or even basketball. Can this be the year?

That’s one of the many questions I’ll be pondering on my walks with Fiji. Because if there’s one thing about sports—and consciousness, and dog walking—it’s that there’s always more to think about.

And luckily, I have plenty of time to do just that.