The Buffaloes and Rams play far better football than their alums deserve. It’s a wonder these teams ever win votes in the national polls, when apathy is always ranked No. 1 in Colorado.
In my hands is proof of our sorry state in college football.
“Where did you get those tickets?” Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick asks, as I wave two $50 ducats for his team’s season opener against Colorado.
For what should be a grudge match, good seats are still available.
That’s a joke, an insult to the conference championships won by Lubick and CU coach Gary Barnett.
For a game the Buffaloes insisted be moved from Denver to their Boulder campus, CU is having trouble selling the idea.
It’s left to charity from suckers like me to achieve a sellout in a stadium with a capacity of 53,750, painfully small by the big-money standards of big-time football.
Demand for seats to the game has been so slow, I found mine in a grocery store while standing in line next to a shopper desperate to find the aisle where the Welsh rabbit was hidden. A nice lady behind the counter offered to sell as many CU-CSU tickets as my credit card could carry. Not a strong sign for the rivalry’s intensity. I forked over 109 bucks (service charge included) for two spots in the nosebleed section of Folsom Field.
Where are all the CU fans who whine nobody loves their Buffaloes? Guess it’s cheaper to complain than cheer. My tickets are free to the person who can best explain why we rank so far behind Texas and Indiana in burning passion for a football feud between neighbors.
The Rocky Mountain Showdown, which averaged a loud, proud crowd of 73,952 during a half-dozen games staged in Denver from 1998-2003, is in jeopardy of dying because the Buffaloes insist 50 percent of future dates in this series be played at Folsom Field, forcing CSU to beg CU to come out and play.
“That’s such a cop-out,” Lubick says. “It makes us look second-class.”
While Lubick relishes the challenge of playing CU, he is tired of kissing up to the Buffs.
“If we want to have a big college football game at Invesco Field in Denver, we don’t have to play CU,” says Lubick, prepared for CSU to find a new headline-grabbing foe. “Let’s bring in Nebraska or Southern Cal to Denver and have the whole weekend to ourselves.”
The Rams have outgrown those ratty clothes of the neglected stepchild. Let the record show CSU has earned equal standing with the Buffaloes, with each team winning three of the past six games.
When Barnett and Lubick shake hands Saturday at the 50-yard line, the bond between coaches will be genuine, sealed with mutual admiration. But equality on the field does not translate to respect across the state. Old prejudices stubbornly refuse to fade, and threaten to kill the rivalry. CU looks down its nose at CSU with an institutional arrogance that puts selfish concerns above what is best for the sport’s growth.
At end of business hours on Tuesday, more than 1,500 tickets remained for the season opener. Oh, we’ll buy the rest of the inventory. It’s on the honey-do list. Right behind emptying the litter box.
In Alabama, a ticket to the Auburn game is a family heirloom. In Colorado, fair-weather fan is too nice a description for the empty seats that too often bake in the September sun while the Buffs and Rams win at home.
Will a football rivalry between CU and CSU ever be taken seriously? Lubick has his doubts.
“The biggest problem is still the fact when you talk about the rivalry, Colorado State, no matter what you do, is not viewed as an equal. We’re not viewed as even, head-up. Colorado is up here. And we’re down here,” says Lubick, showing a gap of several inches between his palms. “Even if you beat ’em, Colorado fans don’t believe it.”
In a state where the NFL is king, college football needs to create the noise that can only be heard from 70,000 fans cheering in Denver. The Rams no longer need to beat CU for validation.
If the Buffaloes want to take their ball and go home, Colorado State can find a better team unafraid to play under the bright lights of Denver.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
