Coincidence?

Happy Tuesday Cougar Fans!  Many of you probably don’t know me, that’s because I’ve never written for WSU Football Blog.  However, I was recently asked to write a guest commentary about something that is near and dear to my heart.  Some of you probably know this already, but the same weekend our Cougs “touchdown” in the Rockies (and hopefully they touchdown many times that weekend) the Great American Beer Festival will also be happening only 45 minutes from Boulder!

I have lots of great details for you after the jump…

For the sports fan, away games are a rite of passage. It takes a special dedication to leave the friendly confines of home, board a plane or load up the van, and travel for hours to follow your team. It means watching the game being cursed and scorned. It’s a concious decision to place yourself in enemy territory, because even though next week is safe, it’s just too far away. It’s where your spirit is tested, where boys become men, where you differentiate a fan from someone who just simply likes a team. With that in mind, let’s take a moment to decide which Cougar road game to you will attend this season.

When choosing a road game, there are many pros and cons to consider. Opponent, destination, travel costs, outstanding warrants, the list goes on and on. Once in a blue moon, the decision will make itself; a marquee non-conference matchup worthy of a College Gameday consideration requires little thought. In our current state, however, we don’t have that luxury. With our only non-conference trip being against SDSU, we’ll continue looking; we can set our fanatical sights a little higher than a main course of San Diego with a little bit of cougs on the side.

We are left with five conference opponents to visit, four of whom are quite familiar. A day at Autzen Stadium is a terrifying proposition regardless of the talent each team does or doesn’t possess. But hey, if being pelted by batteries is your thing, we’ve found your game! Heading to Seattle to take on the dogs at a neutral site can hardly be considered an away game (plus, you should be there anyhow). Cal and UCLA both have potential to be very entertaining trips. Tough to argue with the prospect of likely competitive games in likely sunny weather as temperatures start dropping in the northwest. On the other hand, these are two teams we’ve seen year in and year out, and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The lone destination left on the schedule is October 1st at Colorado. Not only does this look to be an entertaining matchup, the Buffs also carry the added novelty of being the Cougs’ first ever Pac-12 game (and victory!). But what will we do with the rest of our weekend in the Rockies? Sure, it won’t yet be ski season (as far as I know), and sure, Colorado doesn’t have the beach (as far as I know), but for a Cougar, it has something even better– an endless flow of beer! Whether by fabulous coincidence or divine intervention, the Cougs’ trip to Boulder happens to fall on the same weekend as the Great American Beer Festival, and the 30th anniversary edition at that! This is Mecca for beer lovers. Some 500 breweries pouring some 2,500 beers all weekend long. Just 35 minutes from Boulder to Denver is a short pilgrimage to the promised land! The entire weekend, brewers from across the country will be serving up all the beer you can drink and all the swag you can carry.

Tickets will be hard to come by, and a trip within a trip isn’t for everyone, however there are a number of breweries right there in Boulder as well, probably stumbling distance from your hotel or RV, all of which will surely be holding their own GABF celebrations. While I cannot promise Busch Light in abundance, I can certainly guaruntee enough beer to ensure you won’t remember the difference. Whether you trek to Denver or stay in Boulder, it’s sure to be Oktoberfest in America. So while it may be an away game, we Cougars will be like pigs in mud.

I’m looking forward to a strong showing to kick this conference off right.

Until then, Go Cougs!

-OiCougs