Applemania Fans Celebrate On Eve Of Annual Apple Cup Game
Washington State Cougars everywhere should give early thanks that nobody ever won a football game at the pep rally the night before.
It’s not that WSU’s rally at the Ridpath Hotel on Friday night was so bad, it’s just that three blocks away the Husky bash was so regal.
Media snoops routinely show up for these semiprivate shows of support on the eve of the Apple Cup, but this one at the posh Grand Ballroom at Crescent Court had media coverage-plus.
It was on the radio, live.
Play-by-play of a pep rally may not be award-winning stuff, but at least interviews taped and live, mixed with plate-clattering fans going through the buffet line, is a change from the usual dose of Larry and Rush.
One of the affiliate stations on the Husky Football Network - KONP of Port Angeles - sent its longtime ace, Scooter Chapman, to cover the rally.
This is a party with a reputation. Five buses brought the Husky band. Two years ago, the Huskies had their pep rally on the WSU campus.
“We weren’t asked back,” said Patty Daves of Seattle.
Why not? Is there a pep rally gap between our two prominent institutions of higher learning that WSU just doesn’t want its kids to know about?
Nah. A party, no matter where it’s thrown or how well it’s conceived, has no bearing on the outcome of the annual UW-WSU football game.
If it did, UW could be accused of running up the score.
If this is Cougar Country, it’s infiltrated with Huskies. The UW alumni association sends out mailers to 3,500 Inland Northwest graduates.
“They lay low a lot of the time,” said Stephanie Doyle of Seattle, one of the UW alums who greeted revelers. “They come out of the closet once a year. Like tonight.”
Lee Gibbon of Spokane heads UW alumni operations in this area. Mindful of how intense the rivalry is, Gibbon will tastefully display the Husky purple and gold today at the 89th game in Pullman.
“I’ll wear purple,” he said, “but in Pullman I choose more neutral colors.”
Three blocks south at the Ridpath, early arrivals at the Cougar rally were treated to a big-screen TV showing of the Husky-Cougar volleyball game.
Unlike the Husky faithful, many of whom made the wintry, 270-mile drive to get here, Doug Graham of Spokane showed up at the WSU rally compliments of a Spokane radio station.
It’s not that Graham isn’t a True Coug. His parents met and married while attending WSU. His older sister was born in Pullman.
Still, how he found himself at a WSU rally is a story.
“I was listening to the radio, catching the road conditions and finding out how many were still out of power about 7:30 this morning, when one of the guys came on with a contest,” he said.
First caller wins a couple of tickets for naming the score of last year’s game.
“I dialed and got immediately in,” Graham said. “I said the score was 33-31. (It was 33-30).
“The guy goes, ‘Oh, you got that last one wrong.’
“I said 33-32 … 33-31 … uhh … 33-30!”
That’s it. We’ve got a winner.
“So during the day I wondered how I was going to go down to the game. I just bought a business in the Valley and I have to work. I thought I’d give them to my dad.
“The station told me to pick them up at will-call at the rally. Come to find out the two tickets I actually won were for the Cougar Club Rally, not the Apple Cup game like I thought.”
Graham didn’t seem too put-out.
“The tough part was calling my dad,” he said. “I gave the tickets to him before I had ‘em. He understood. “Besides, this looks like fun,” Graham said, nodding at the appetizers and the beer. “I’ll just enjoy myself and root the Cougars on from here.”
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Sports events canceled Some youth sporting events have been scratched this weekend in the wake of the ice storm. The Spokane Valley YMCA postponed today’s basketball program. The Amateur Athletic Union-Spokane Regional Basketball Club also delayed its games. Nearly 4,000 kids belong to those leagues. In addition, the downtown YMCA canceled youth basketball games today. Youth basketball leagues in Cheney and Medical Lake, and the Spokane Youth Sports indoor soccer leagues, plan to play scheduled weekend games.