With the end of another school year just around the corner, Pullman will once again morph into what feels like a ghost town for the summer. For those who have never been in Pullman during a summer or extended holiday break, the normally bustling little town slows to a near crawl compared with the busy school months of the year.

While the year-round inhabitants of the town likely enjoy the reprieve from the student body, the fact remains that WSU lives and dies through Pullman and vice versa.

The university supports the town of Pullman economically. The town largely revolves around the university and is dependent on the university’s successes, as victories and defeats are shared community-wide.

Yet, looking beyond the obvious economic sustenance WSU provides to the city of Pullman, there is much more offered on an emotional and spiritual level in both what WSU offers Pullman and what the great town of Pullman offers WSU.

Living on the Palouse in Pullman, students are somewhat isolated to the rest of the surrounding world, tucked-in by the area’s rolling wheat fields and nearby Idaho wilderness. Spokane is the nearest semi-large city, and it is about a 90 minute drive away. 

This isolation drives some people crazy, although many, if not most, who attend WSU grow to love, appreciate and yearn for the isolation the small town offers from the rest of the world. Pullman’s bubble offers a place for budding young adults to make memories, mistakes, and lifelong friendships, as well as having a boatload of Colorado Street stories to tell when it’s all said and done.

One of the biggest traditions WSU offers is Cougar football. Although the Cougars have had a rough run over the past decade, the love for Cougar football has prevailed over the years. 

USC and UCLA might have the Coliseum, but there’s nothing quite like Cougar Football Saturdays in Pullman, and a packed house in WSU’s cozy Martin Stadium.

In Los Angeles, Trojan and Bruin football is not everything. The massive city of Los Angeles contains endless possibilities that debatably dilute many of the wonderful things the city has to offer. 

In Pullman, Cougar football is everything.

The entire town turns into a giant, weekend-long party, starting Friday afternoon in downtown Pullman on Grand Avenue for Gameday festivities. The party moves up the hill in the evening and might become just a tad more rowdy than Colorado Street, Monroe Street, and B Street. The rest of Greek Row becomes littered with Crimson diehards, Greek and non-Greek alike. And it’s nearly impossible to walk more than half a block without hearing a “Go Cougs” followed by a chorus of replies from everyone within earshot.

The party carries on to the next morning, as the giant Cougar football helmet can be seen up and down Stadium Way for hours on the backend of a trailer being towed all over town. The trailer is accompanied with a group of Cougs, screaming and yelling, proclaiming their love and loyalty for the Crimson and Gray.

Early in the afternoon, the 85-year-old Hollingberry Fieldhouse comes to life with great food, great beer, and a sea of Crimson and Gray mingling and participating in pre-game festivities.

Eventually, kickoff commences, and for the next few hours more than 35,000 screaming Cougar fans cheer on their beloved Cougs.

While our smaller-sized stadium, in comparison with other Division I programs, may not house 70,000-plus spectators, the Cougar student section produces an electric energy that could compete with LA’s Coliseum. And let’s not forget the countless diehard alumni who tow their RVs for multiple hours to Pullman every Gameday weekend to cheer on their treasured Cougs and relive their glory days.

At the end of the game, whether we win or lose, we all meet back on Colorado Street to celebrate the day’s victory or drown the afternoon’s sorrows. But nonetheless, we are together. We are together as Cougs, as our love for the Crimson and Gray will endure whatever is thrown our way.  

And while it is something that many who have never experienced Pullman will never understand, Pullman and WSU crawl into our hearts early on as freshmen and stay there for eternity, and no matter where we may end up years after graduation, every Coug’s heart will pump just a bit harder on Cougar Football Saturdays, yearning for one more weekend on the Palouse.

— Brent Atkinson is a grad student from Pasco. He can be contacted at 335-1140 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.