CSU-Wyoming reveals more revelry than rivalry

College football rivalries like tradition.

That’s why schools schedule games at neutral sites, host

pre-game parades and/or award some memento to the victor.

For example, CSU lost the Centennial Cup to CU this year, but

won the Ram-Falcon trophy by beating Air Force.

On Saturday, winner of the CSU-Wyoming game gets the Bronze

Boot.

All these trophies mean something. All teams involved want

possession of the prize. But there’s a difference between the first

two pieces of hardware CSU vies for and that last one.

They’re actually a challenge to obtain.

Anyone will tell you this game, the Border War, is a rivalry.

It’s one of the longest series in the history of college football.

It gets alumni from both schools to show up. And both teams have a

general hate for one another.

But it lacks competitiveness. It lacks intrigue. It lacks two

football teams.

I think it’s precious, though, how those scrubs in Wyoming still

point to this game saying a win would make their season. There used

to be a time when we thought that about them. A long-time CSU fan I

once met told me he was around when Wyoming was on the same

pedestal as CU and BYU.

Boy, have they since been bronze-booted off that perch! The

Wyoming football team is as tough as Jello. And so is just about

any other athletic program at this school that sports the same

colors as bodily waste.

The athletic pride of UW has long been men’s basketball. Last

year, CSU lost both regular-season games to Wyoming by two points

each. But then the teams squared off in the first round of the

Mountain West Conference Tournament, with UW the 3-seed and CSU No.

6.

Guess who won that game, went on to take the whole tourney and

give the Dukies a hell of a game in the Big Dance? I’ll just say

the Rammies are now the preseason No. 3 and Wyoming is at No.

6.

If we take over this heated rivalry like we have the football

one, you might as well name that school CSU-Laramie, cause we’d own

them.

Like CSU owns UW in women’s basketball, taking five of the last

six games they’ve played. Last season, after splitting the

regular-season series, CSU tossed aside the Cowgirls in

back-to-back postseason tournaments. First, the Rams eliminated UW

from the MWC Tournament, and then ousted the Pokes from the Women’s

NIT.

In volleyball, the Cowgirls barely mustered a fight against CSU

earlier this year. In UW’s defense, though, that Rams team owns

everyone right now.

But we also top UW in the men’s and women’s versions of golf,

cross country and track.

You want more? I could go all day, but to save time and some

Wyoming face, I’ll stop here.

Point is, when you claim someone’s your rival, show a little

respect and show up. That’s why CU now considers CSU a rival in

football. After getting it handed to us for so long, we finally

started showing up and making things interesting.

We know you want to be like us, Wyoming. Two of your biggest

cities are within a Hail Mary of the Colorado border. You promote

yourself to students by saying you’re just two hours from a

thriving metropolis, that being Denver.

But a lot of CSU fans will be making a rare trip into that

hideous place you call a home this weekend. Can we try and make it

a good game?

You Pokes may call it a rivalry. But more accurately, it’s

really only revelry. For us.