Welcome to the Pac

Over the years, we’ve all gotten used to seeing the same opponents year in and yer out in the Pac 10. We’ve heard the same fight songs, seen the same colors and developed either a healthy amount of begrudging respect or a heaping dose of hate for our conference brethren. This year we’ve finally got some fresh faces to welcome and hopefully kick around from time to time. With the Pac 10 becoming the Pac 12 and Utah and Colorado joining the ranks of the Conference of Champions, I thought we should all get to know our new rivals a little bit better. While we won’t share a division with the new guys, we’ll certainly see our fair share of them and will play both in football this year. Hopefully for many of us, it will eventually mean road trips to a couple new locales to take in some Cougar victories. Throw in the “King and I” and let’s play a little “Getting to Know You” (or throw in “The Shawshank Redemption” if ” Fresh fish! Fresh fish! Fresh fish!” is your preferred movie reference).

University of Utah

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Enrollment: 29,284 (as of fall 2009)

Colors: Crimson and White; let the debate about whose crimson is more appropriate begin.

Nickname: Utes; Originally referred to as the Redskins, Utah officially adopted the nickname Utes in 1972. A Ute is a member of the Indian tribe believed to originally settled Utah. Two of the more common definitions of Ute are “top of the mountains” and “people of the mountains”. With all due respect to the history here, I’ll gladly take being a Cougar, thank you very much.

Mascot: Swoop –  a red-tailed hawk that evidently “reflects the soaring spirit of the state of Utah and the school”. Also, he’s kind scary looking and probably scares some small children.

Fight Song: “Utah Man” – I know that many college fight songs date back to an era long since gone and that is part of the fabric that makes college football and all its pageantry so great, but check out the lyrics to the U of U fight song:

VERSE
I am a Utah man, sir, and I live across the green. Our gang, it is the jolliest that you have ever seen. Our coeds are the fairest and each one’s a shining star. Our yell, you hear it ringing through the mountains near and far.

CHORUS
Who am I, sir? A Utah Man am I. A Utah Man, sir, and will be ’til I die; Ki-yi! We’re up to snuff; we never bluff, we’re game for any fuss. No other gang of college men dare meet us in the muss. So fill your lungs and sing it out and shout it to the sky, we’ll fight for dear old Crimson, for a Utah Man am I.

VERSE
And when we prom the avenue, all lined up in a row, and arm in arm and step in time as down the street we go. No matter if a freshman green or in a senior’s gown, the people all admit we are the warmest gang in town.

CHORUS   (same)

VERSE
We may not live forever on this jolly good old sphere, but while we do we’ll live a life of merriment and cheer. And when our college days are o’er and night is drawing nigh, with parting breath we’ll sing that song: “A Utah Man Am I.” Go Utes!

Well then. Point taken. Good luck to any of our athletes who dare meet theirs in the muss. I would love to know what the femal students of the University of Utah think about this little ditty. I sure hope it’s got a catchy tune.

Famous Athletic Alumni: Jamal Anderson (he of the “Dirty Bird” fame), Mike Anderson (of Mike Shanahan can turn anyone into a 1,000 yard back fame), Andre and Kevin Dyson, Andrew Bogut, Keith Van Horn, Andre Miller, Alex and Steve Smith (no relation).

Other: Utah, Utah State and BYU have, since 1971, been battling for the Beehive Boot. Utah has claimed the boot 11 times. It’d be a shame if a tradition such as this falls by the wayside with the move the the Pac 12, but hopefully the giant piles of cash will make it alright.

The MUSS is Utah’s student fan club. Its name originally derived from the aforementioned wacky lyrics in the fight song, but now serves as an acronym for the “Mighty Utah Student Section”. According to Utah athletics’ official site, the MUSS is known for their First Down Chant, broken down as follows: members raise their hands in unison, yelling “first down”, and mimic the referees by pointing their arm in the direction of the first down. Ohhhhhhhhhh, I get it.

Other rituals include the U of U Chop, which involves MUSS members making a U with their hands and chopping to the beat of music and the Third Down Jump, in which members jump around and make noise every time the opposing team prepares for a third down play. Not exactly cutting edge stuff here, but I do like the that they take the time to name things. “Hey guys, you know how we’ve been jumping a lot on third down? We should call it the “Third Down Jump.”

One thing I do like is that the students hang a line of “5” signs to keep a running tally of the number of false starts the opponent has had. Gotta admit, that’s pretty cool.

University of Colorado

Location: Boulder, Colorado; I’ve gotta sat this is a huge win for the conference. I’m very much excited to make Boulder an away game destination at some point.

Enrollment: 30,196

Colors: Silver and Gold; That’s right, the school who wears these, does not list black as one of its official colors. It’s a background color that provides greater contrast for the gold. Sure, that makes sense.

Nickname: Buffaloes

Mascot: Ralphie. What else can you say? Having a life buffalo charge out onto a football field is simply awesome.

Fight Song: Fight CU down the field, CU must win, Fight, Fight for victory, CU knows no defeat, We’ll roll up a mighty score, Never give in, Shoulder to Shoulder, We will Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight. So I guess what they’re saying is that they’re up for a fight. I have it on good authority from my brother’s brief stint in Boulder that the students have a vulgar addition to the song that middle school me thought was super cool. For the record, nearly 30 year old me still thinks it’s cool, albeit pretty crass.

Famous Athletic Alumni: Rashaan Salaam, Heisman trophy winner/NFL bust; Eric Bieniemy; Koy (the other) Detmer; Michael Westbrook (teammate beatdown specialist); Rae Carruth (wide receiver/murderer); Jeremy Bloom (skier-cum-football player or is it the other way around?); Mason Crosby; Nate Solder; Jimmy Smith; Chauncey B-B-B-Billups

Other:In addition to a real buffalo, Colorado also has Chip, a mascot in the more traditional sense. My son is sitting next to me as I write this and just gave Chip the almost-four-year-old seal of approval. Congrats, Chip.

The Pearl Street Stampede sounds like a good time. Led by an antique CU firetruck, the Golden Buffalo Marching Band and the football team march their way to a pep rally.

At some point, I’m gonna need someone to explain to me why the University of Colorado goes by CU and not UC.

So there you have it. As football and basketball season finally roll around, we can get into what the addition of these schools will mean on the field and on the court, but for now we’ve got to get used to the fact that there are some new kids in town. For the time being, they haven’t really done anything to bother me so on behalf of the WSU Football Blog, I’m rolling out the crimson carpet to say welcome to the Pac 12.

Go Cougs.