WSU proud of game day traditions

Cougs fans have learned to embrace rowdy, rambunctious stereotype

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EZEKIEL NELSON | The Daily Evergreen

Gabriella Sweet, a bartender at The Coug, talks about the bar’s preparation for Dad’s Weekend.

SHELBY STANWOOD, Evergreen columnist

Some may say this year’s football season is a miracle, some may say it has been a long-awaited shot at the recognition the school deserves. School spirit and tradition run deep at WSU, and we have no intention of slowing our roll, especially on homecoming week.

The zealous WSU fan base has become nationally distinguished for the cannon blasts of touchdowns from Martin Stadium inspiring some fans to light things on fire. In a previous Evergreen article, Pullman Police Detective Jake Opgenorth said that out of the 15 incidents reported after the monumental upset over University of Southern California, there were 13 couches, one mattress and one vehicle seat set ablaze.

As a fan base, we are known to be rambunctious and occasional arsonists when it comes to cheap furniture. This is old news to anyone who has attended WSU and returned back home to catch that Coug spirit.

It all began back in 1890 when the college first opened its doors as the Washington Agricultural College and School of Science. For those who claim we’re all a bunch of hicks in the sticks, you remind us fondly that we began as an agricultural college and continue to lead the industry. The WSU College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource sciences holds 22 majors, 19 minors and 27 graduate programs. Falling in love with the golden grains of the Palouse has always been embedded in the hearts of WSU students and we know city slickers just don’t get it. Yet, some say that students are only at WSU because they didn’t have the grades to get into their school of choice.

In the heart of Pullman rests a cozy little cottage, Cougar Cottage that is. The Coug is a long-standing symbol of WSU pride with their original brick walls housing some of the best memories for more than 80 years. The Coug staff preps meticulously for weekends jam-packed with cougs from all over making the pilgrimage to 900 NE Colorado St.

“Alumni make our job really easy and really fun,” Cougar Cottage Manager Becca Conner said. “We’re happy to welcome them back home and hear their stories of meeting their spouses here, or seeing pictures of them with a beer in their hand when the wall said 70 years instead of 85. It’s little moments like that, that’s why The Coug is different.”

In response to a student article from a different Pac-12 university claiming that WSU has no long-standing traditions, Conner said, “That’s just ignorance. We don’t need to be part of a big city to have our own identity. It’s on everyone’s cars, buildings and windows in our hub of pride on the east side.”

As a senior who has spent years climbing the nearly 90-degree incline to class every day (rain or shine, but mostly snow), I know a few things to be true. From forward thinkers to beer drinkers, and Head Coach Mike Leach’s post-game interviews, WSU traditions run deeper than the ocean. Those who think we wish we went to a different university have probably never visited Pullman, and we’d be more than happy to show you around.