Has the WSU-UO rivalry become one of the best on the West Coast?
- Thread starter PeteTheChop
- Start date
One of the things nobody has mentioned here is the impact it makes to LIVE and WORK with rival fans. Lots of PDX people in SEA and vice-versa. Plenty of Cougs in Seattle but not the same crossover between Pullman/Spokane and PDX, I'd venture. Most of the trash talking and hurt feelings come from family, coworkers etc. There is Seattle/Spokane crossover, much more so than Spokane/Oregon.
I'm from Seattle originally and I just don't have many Duck alums in my network; just some high school pals I fell out of touch with. Everyone else are Huskies, WWU, EWU, CWU, Seattle U, SPU etc. And of course don't discount the Jack Dawgs, which is basically everybody who started paying attention during the Petersen era.
I'm from Seattle originally and I just don't have many Duck alums in my network; just some high school pals I fell out of touch with. Everyone else are Huskies, WWU, EWU, CWU, Seattle U, SPU etc. And of course don't discount the Jack Dawgs, which is basically everybody who started paying attention during the Petersen era.
A) Jack Dawgs are, and have been, at LEAST 80% of the fusky fan base since forever. A lot of Seahawk apathy mixed with UW success lead to that
2) Jack Ducks are easily 95% of the duck fan base. Probably since the Harrington years - maybe Smith.
The dynamic with Oregon is unusual, reflecting their own odd history and the extreme events both programs have gone through in the past 20 years or so. Oregon is a historical territorial rival, but that like a lot of things went out the window as Oregon became a nationally relevant team and WSU went through a dark period. When Oregon was OREGON, they claimed to think of each game as the same and they certainly weren't thinking of us, or anyone else (other than UW, even as they pounded them every year) as a rival. I don't think the past few years has done enough to make this a real "rivalry" that fans circle on their calendars, but it definitely is more of one than our games vs. anyone else in the Pac-12 other than UW, with Oregon State in about the same neighborhood (when they aren't terrible). It could grow into a pretty good one if both teams are consistently good for a while, but I think UW and Oregon thinking of themselves as rivals will always keep a lid on it to an extent.
Agree with this -- when I think of a rival, I usually view that through my own personal lens. There is a ton of crossover between UW and WSU and their alumni/fans, and a lot of factors about that rivalry that make it heated and very real all the time. With Oregon, I don't have random U of O alumni touting that fact in any circles I've been in, and certainly not any giving me any grief as a WSU fan. You see some people with Oregon bumper stickers sometimes, but it's not very noticeable and they aren't very aggressive, even when Oregon is very successful. Much different from being a Coug living in the Seattle area and working with a bunch of arrogrant Huskies and seeing a bunch of Jack Huskies everywhere, as was the case for me until recently.
My point is that we've been COMPETITIVE with them, for the most part.
Duck fans shouldn't think a win over WSU is a given, unless they think Wulff is still coaching us.
