Charcoal, beer and school spirit were thick in the breeze this evening as 70,000 fans poured into Invesco Field for the Qwest Rocky Mountain Showdown.
University of Colorado and Colorado State fans hooted, hollered and taunted one another, even if it didn’t make sense, as kickoff neared.
“Don’t make me go Barack Obama on you,” said CSU alum Ted Walker, to a group of CU undergrads.
“All talk?” a coed in a CU tube top called back.
As gametime neared, the 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 colorguard twirled gold-and-black flags 20 yards to the west.
The band roared louder a few minutes later as they began their march to the field.
Then the teams kicked off their 80th meeting.
Fans were jazzed for the chance to claim the Centennial Cup, the prize trophy of the two in-state rivals. Their fervor was camera-ready for a national TV audience, as Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild mad his debut replacing Sonny Lubick after 15 seasons.
Fresh off tight security and crowd-control training and equipment for last week’s Democratic National Convention, Denver police have a federal grant this year to combat public drunkenness, which marred previous games leading up to brawling and tear gas in 1999.
Drunkenness reared its head as a potential game-day issue Friday when CSU’s top running back, Gartrell Johnson, told a pep-rally to “come out and get drunk” and verbally taunt CU fans.
CSU’s administration denounced the remark, and CU issued a statement Thursday urging students and fans “to behave responsibly and to take buses or carpool with a designated driver.”
“What we want to see is two engaged, spirited, excited groups of fans from CU and CSU, witnessing a friendly, but intense rivalry on the field,” CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson stated.
“What we don’t want to see is fans competing to see who can be the most irresponsible, thereby endangering their own safety and that of other fans, and in the process, sending the wrong message about our respective institutions.”
Alcohol was a big factor in 1999 – and subsequently banned for Rocky Mountain Showdowns – when fights broke out on every level of the stadium during the third quarter, and police used tear gas to disperse celebrating CSU fans after the game.
There were 27 arrests and hundreds of ejections and months of meetings at the law enforcement and university levels.
Next year the game moves to Folsom Field on CU’s Boulder campus. 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.
CU has banned beer sales at Folsom Field since 1996. Colorado State does not have a ban, but suspended stadium alcohol sales in 2004 after the binge-drinking death of 19-year-old sophomore Samantha Spady the weekend of the CU game. The same day her autopsy was released, a fraternity pledge at CU, Lynn “Gordie” Bailey, 18, was found dead after a night of hard drinking.
The CU-CSU rivalry had commanded a national TV audience in nine of the previous 13 years.
After starting the game at 10 a.m. on a Saturday last year, the game started at 5:40 p.m. this evening, to accomodate TV.
The Buffaloes have played only three times on Sundays in the 19 years of its football program, including its loss to Alabama in last December’s Independence Bowl. The Buffs tied Tennessee on a Sunday in 1990 and lost to Fresno State on the sabbath in 2001.
The game also marked the first time in the history of the 42-year history Ralphie, the real-thing mascot for the Buffs, that two bison lurked the sidelines of the same game.
Ralphie IV, CU’s not-yet-retired mascot since 1998, was been joined by the rookie Ralphie V.
