Walking along a busy street in Seattle’s University District, a young passerby asked if I hunt ducks from my tractor.
The out-of-the-blue question was wholly appropriate, considering it was Apple Cup Saturday and – like anyone of good character and in possession of more than a thimbleful of common sense – I was letting the world know My Color Is Crimson. The Washington State University hat and Cougar sweatshirt were an automatic target for what was, I thought, a relatively clever one-liner.
With the start of another collegiate school year about to begin – fall classes begin Monday in Pullman – it’s time again to consider the strange relationship between the majesty that is Washington State University and the state’s other Division I institution.
Foremost is the rivalry. It exists, of course, due to the chasm that separates the universities. Not just the Columbia River Gorge, but the loftier differences that make each unique. If the UW is fine wine served in pretentious crystal, WSU is beer from a keg in plastic cups. While the UW has Tyee Club members putting on a lavish spread before home football games, WSU has fans enjoying a burger and another beer. Or two. The UW is all about Seattle, a cosmopolitan community boasting high tech, the arts and a window on the world. WSU is all about Pullman, where students rule a rural little burg with a window on Moscow, Idaho.
The UW is bright lights and Interstate 5. WSU is blowing snow and an endless trek along the Cougar Highway, officially known as state Route 26.
A striking difference is that UW faithful can sometimes be found rooting for the Cougars, providing it’s not Apple Cup time. The warm, fuzzy feeling is strictly one-sided. Ardent Cougs readily admit to rooting for the Huskies to go down in flames. Anytime. Anywhere. Husky fans save their venom for the University of Oregon, preferring to let their real emotion spill across state lines.
It’s all based on being an underdog, of course. Coug loyalists go through life with a bit of a chip on their shoulders, knowing they’re being discounted by their big-city antagonists. But that’s what makes being a Coug something special. That’s why WSU license plates outnumber those honoring all other state universities, combined. That’s why strangers offers a “Go Cougs” to someone wearing a Wazzu T-shirt, no matter where an alum might wander.
The only thing Cougs will shy away from this fall is gridiron trash talk. While the Huskies are busy touting Jake Locker as a Heisman Trophy candidate, WSU fans are putting their trust in a bunch of guys who wish they were Locker. The UW has a dynamic coach in second-year boss Steve Sarkisian, while WSU counters with Paul Wulff, who could be looking for work a year from now. Anyone familiar with Wulff’s family background has to root for the guy, but too few wins bring pink slips in Division I athletics.
You can’t have it all, not even Cougs. We’ll just have to concede the fall to the Huskies.
