I had coffee with another Coug the other day. We hadn’t met in person prior to the business meeting and when we did it was like we were old friends. We had this shared but separate experience in common, something that’s difficult to explain. It is like how the Inuit people have multiple lexemes for snow or the meaning of the Spirit of Aloha in the Hawaiian language. We knew we were Cougs and we greeted each other by saying GO COUGS.
Maybe you chuckle when I put it in this way, but the “Experience of Cougness” is real.
We drank coffee, talked business, talked Cougness and he shared a story about the Rose Bowl with me. He went to an Alumni function in Santa Monica the night before the game and struck up a conversation with an older Alum. This Alum broke down the difference between a husky and a Coug in two sentences.
He said, “If you meet a University of Washington grad he or she will tell you that they were a Husky. If you meet a Washington State University grad they will tell you that they are a Coug.”
It is a subtle difference, however one is thinking past tense and the other still lives and breathes it. One WAS and the other IS.
I’ve been processing that story since and have taken it to heart. We ARE Cougs. And I don’t care if you went to WSU or not. I don’t care if you graduated or not. If you identify as a fan, if you support the school, if you want to see the Cougs beat the dawgs… then you are a Coug and I have a high five waiting for you.
Tonight at 4pm (Pacific) we have a basketball game and it’s a big deal. We are one game away from the CBI Championship. Win or lose that’s huge.
Damn it feels good to be a Coug.
Coug up!
-Erik
