Charcoal, beer and school spirit were thick in the Sunday-evening breeze as 69,619 fans poured into Invesco Field at Mile High for the Qwest Rocky Mountain Showdown.
By the time the University of Colorado and Colorado State University kicked off the game at dusk, the parking lots were awash in beer cans and the soggy cases they came in.
One fistfight required police to fire pepper balls to disperse a crowd, 15 people were arrested for offenses from public urination to assault, 25 underage students were cited for drinking, and 36 drunk fans were taken to detoxification centers, according to Denver police. But for the size of the crowd, trouble was minor, police said.
Fans mostly hooted, hollered and taunted one another in every way possible.
“Don’t make me go Barack Obama on you,” CSU fan Ted Walker hollered at a group of jubilant CU undergrads. A young blonde in a CU tube top called back, “All talk?”
As game time neared, the 240-member CU band made final preparations in the near-perfect acoustics of the Colfax Avenue overpass. Trumpets roared Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” as the color guard twirled black-and-gold flags. The band roared louder a few minutes later as they began their march to the field.
When the tailgating, trash-talking and game playing was done, CU had won 38-17 for its 59th win in 80 meetings between Colorado’s largest universities.
Luke Coggins, a CSU junior from Durango, was willing to wear green body paint and a headdress too weird to describe to “tick off CU,” he said, noting that his aunt, Kirsten Landers, did the paint job.
Landers’ sons, Wade and Jake Landers, are linemen for the Rams. “We love CSU,” she squealed.
Next year the game moves to Folsom Field at CU-Boulder. In 2010 the Rams have announced they play host at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins.
The two schools are in negotiations on how to continue the series after 2010.
Denver police kept a tight rein on trouble Sunday, after drunkenness marred previous games leading up to brawling and tear gas in 1999.
CU junior Nic Vanderhoos looks forward to the game being played at Folsom Field, four blocks from his home, but said the trip to Denver did not impede his good time. His friends drank beer and whooped and hollered in the parking lot near the stadium Sunday. They rented a party bus for the trip, he said.
“You’ve just got to be smart about it,” he said. “Drinking and driving isn’t responsible.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
