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.
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