Boulder – If ever a stadium looked ready for war it was Folsom Field on Saturday. An army of fans in the University of Colorado’s gold and black was flanked on all sides by a sea of Kelly green pulling for Colorado State.
Young men chanted taunts and baritone vulgarities with as much vengeance as the players exchanging blocks and tackles on the turf.
Football fans entered the stadium through a near mob of wild college students who limited trouble to yells and insults.
“This is it, baby. They’re going to pay,” said Tim Jones, a CSU student from Denver, referring to the narrow victory taken by CU last year.
Amid the rivalry and jubilance in the record crowd of 54,972, there was also generosity. Twenty-five students and teachers collected thousands of dollars in coins and bills for hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.
“People are being really generous. It’s wonderful to see this kind of response,” said Tom Ayres, an astronomy professor who has been at CU for 25 years, since his days as a student.
“I just wanted to do something,” said Tawanna Johnson, a CSU fan from Denver, after she dropped a folded $10 bill into a white plastic bucket on her way into the stadium. “Ten bucks isn’t much, but I’ve done at least that much; everybody should do something.”
Volunteer Stephanie Jalovic, a 21-year-old CU senior from Denver, said her goal was to “collect as much as we possibly can.”
When the e-mail went out Friday to students and faculty to help the American Red Cross, it wasn’t hard choosing between football and helping people who had lost everything, she said.
With the hurricane dominating news, security for this year’s game, a 31-28 CU victory,received little publicity, and the police presence was noticeably less than last year.
The revelry stayed below fever pitch throughout the game, with the exception of a few fistfights and public drunkenness. There were 11 arrests, including one for underage drinking and three for assaults.
Last year, a calm veneer was aided by the smothering, steamy conditions at dusk before blowing into a thunderstorm moments after the game, peacefully dispersing the crowd.
This year, the outlandish behavior was back – a handful of CU students wore only Speedo bathing suits and had letters painted on their chests.
Betsy Warner, a grandmother from Fort Collins who rarely misses a CSU game, said she never wears her colors to Boulder.
“These people are nuts,” she said just after a male student nearly bowled her over at halftime. “That’s only one reason I don’t like them.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
