I Feel Stupid and Contagious: Smells of School Spirit
Tim Rodenberger
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Opinion
Nowhere is this more prevalent than our rivalry with the Minnesota Gophers (Grrrrr!!). I don't know why, but I hate the gophers with every inch of my being despite the fact that I was raised a Jayhawk fan in Kansas (darn Wildcats) and later became a Cougar at Washington State University (Husky alumni bag my groceries!). Every time I see maroon and gold, it's like red to the bull and I just want to charge at whoever is wearing it whether it's an 18-year-old freshmen, an old grandma, or a grossly dressed infant. I can't explain it, I've felt this way since I got here two years ago. Guess it comes with the territory.
While excess school spirit might lead to confrontations with rivals, public indecency, wearing gosh-awful face paint, and singing fight songs that sound too much like something from high school, school spirit instills pride in our institution no matter how much they screw us over on parking. The memories of watching our team win or lose stays with us, giving us great anecdotes years later when our children ask us about our past. I can gleefully say I saw the 2003 Rose Bowl where my Cougars fought (and lost in quick succession to) Oklahoma, or about watching our hockey team at the University of North Dakota place every year that I was here. And let's face it, for a small town in a state most Americans forgot exists, we have one bad ass hockey team... so long as they're not playing Boston College that is. Next year Gadget, next year!
While excess school spirit might lead to confrontations with rivals, public indecency, wearing gosh-awful face paint, and singing fight songs that sound too much like something from high school, school spirit instills pride in our institution no matter how much they screw us over on parking. The memories of watching our team win or lose stays with us, giving us great anecdotes years later when our children ask us about our past. I can gleefully say I saw the 2003 Rose Bowl where my Cougars fought (and lost in quick succession to) Oklahoma, or about watching our hockey team at the University of North Dakota place every year that I was here. And let's face it, for a small town in a state most Americans forgot exists, we have one bad ass hockey team... so long as they're not playing Boston College that is. Next year Gadget, next year!
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