Friendly rivalry is fun. It’s pumping through your veins at the Showdown. It’s pushing each establishment to work harder and build better programs that fit the needs of incoming students. They keep each other in check; one wouldn’t strive without the other setting the bar. It’s a balance. Rivalry shouldn’t be someone dismissing you because of where you go to school. It shouldn’t be dehumanizing each other based off of stereotypes. It shouldn’t be childish banter or arguing over which school is better. That’s not rivalry. That’s bad sportsmanship.
Raise your hand if you grew up in Colorado.
Raise your hand if you have friends at CU and CSU.
Raise your hand if you have texted your friends from the other school, at the CU verse CSU tailgate asking them where they are so you can go and say hi.
Raise your hand if you went to the town where they won the showdown, because they were going to have the best parties.
Raise your hand if you have spent a weekend in Fort Collins and or Boulder because you need to get away from your college friends for a bit.
Raise your hand if you wished at one time or another in your life that you had gone to the other school.
Maybe you didn’t raise your hands to any of these, maybe you are a die-hard Buff/ Ram hater and maybe this article isn’t for you. If you are like me, you raised your hand to every single one of these and you’ve probably thought a few times, man this rivalry is ridiculous. Not the sports rivalry, to be clear. Friendly rivalry makes any sporting event that much more fun. I am also guilty of sending playful texts back and forth with my CU Boulder friends before the Show Down. I’m talking about the bashing. I’m talking about the rivalry that exists, that causes someone to be like, “Oh you’re a Ram?” Like I’m less than, like that where I go to school constitutes the kind of person that I am. The rivalry that causes others to assume that I DIDN’T want to go to college so I WENT to State. That’s the rivalry that needs to stop.
I was raised in Boulder, Colorado. I ate Cheddar Bunnies, Veggie Booty and tofu when I was growing up. I was fully emerged in Boulder’s hippy culture. Let me tell you something, I’ve found a culture equally as hippy since I moved to Fort Collins. So when CSU began chanting “Dirty Hippies” at my first Showdown, I had to ask who? The guy with dreads and Chacos in the Rams shirt or Buff’s shirt? Fort Collins and Boulder are not so different from one another. As diverse as the Terrain, no matter where you’re hiking you’ll discover you’re still on Colorado soil.
Here’s the deal. Colorado University is a nationally renowned school. No matter where you go, if you say you are from Colorado, people are going to ask you if you go to CU. If they are a fellow college student they are probably going to tell you that they thought about applying there. That’s it, no ifs and or buts. CU has made a name for itself and that’s that.
CSU is not as well known nationally, but it could hold its own in a fight against CU. The fact that there is construction everywhere is just an extended metaphor for the rapidly building programs, faculty, research and students that are coming out of CSU every year.
They are both great schools. They each have strong programs. Each school has something to offer and each student chooses to go there because it best fits their needs. As a Colorado native or graduate from a Colorado school you should be proud that no matter what Colorado school is mentioned your alma mater will reflect an academically strong and opportunity filled undergraduate experience.
What about the parties?
Okay sure, we can talk about parties since people always bring up the parties. We don’t even have the grounds (literally) to compare to each other. Boulder is an easy to walk campus and there are usually a lot more parties to go to. You have fun, none of the parties get busted by the cops and it usually ends in Cosmos Pizza. Fort Collins is spread out, every one hears about one party and it’s the most popping fun fifteen to thirty minutes of your life and then it gets busted and it usually ends in Cosmos pizza. Both places are different experiences, both places have great pizza.
The bars are the same. I’m not talking about all the breweries or craft beer that Fort Collins has in comparison to Boulder, I am talking about a night going out to the bars. Boulder has The Walrus, Sun Down, Rio, Press Play and The Attic all within a few blocks of each other. Fort Collins has Lucky Jo’s, Rio, Yeti, Rec Room, Bondi, Trail head and Blind Pig all within a few blocks of each other. They are crowded and full of college students. You spend a hazy night leaving one and going to another and by the end of the night your shoes are sticky and you get a Gyro or Cosmos. There is no difference. They are both a great time. You’d have the same bar experiences as close as Denver or as far as New York.
But the people are just so…
Pointing fingers at the “kind” of people who go to either school is elementary. As an educated college student, you should acknowledge that in a class of 35,000 undergrads it can’t be a homogeneous group. I have a conservative friend, who loves horses and I’m a liberal hippy, she goes to CU and I go to CSU, look at us, breaking the mold!
But their campuses!
Yes, both of their campuses are gorgeous. Walking through the red brick buildings, with the flatirons in the back ground could take anyone’s breath away. Stopping by the lake with the rec in the background and the mountains peaking behind is equally as flabbergasting. We live in Colorful Colorado. We are surrounded by beauty every day. Come on, you didn’t come for the campus. You came for the little speck of Horsetooth or Flagstaff popping up in the background, you came for 360 days of sunshine, hammock hanging and Colorado summers!
I can’t imagine Colorado without Boulder or Fort Collins. As a CSU Ram, I owe part of my college experience to the Buffs: their friendships, their parties, their campus, their bars and their friendly rivalry. I’m sure a lot of Rams and Buffs can say the same. I’ve had one heck of a ride and if I have any advice to pass on before I graduate it would be, if you want to go to college just make sure it’s in Colorado.
