What Sark looked like the last time this game was relevant.

It will be nice to watch an Apple Cup that is actually worth a damn for the first time in quite a few years.

In this years installment of the Apple Cup, both teams come in with some momentum. In the case of the Cougs, they have become bowl eligible for the first time in what seems a very long time from the successful squads of the early 2000′s. For the Dawgs, this is a chance to get over the 7-win hump (albeit by one game) and continue to show progress for the program that Sark has built.

All too often this game has meant literally nothing for either one or both teams involved. If anything, it has become a battle for who won’t be living in the cellar at the end of the season.

The tradition from the game has been sapped a little just due to the fact the game is being played on the day after Thanksgiving, and at noon to boot. However, if it wasn’t for the TV money that is helping schools like Washington State hire Mike Leach and allowing the assistants at Washington to be some of the highest paid in the land, you have to give and take some things.

For Washington State, getting to 7 wins should assure them a bowl birth. While bowl eligble now, 6 wins doesn’t guarantee a bowl game, it just guarantees that they could be selected for one. If I was in their shoes, this is a must-win game to get to that point. Getting to 6 wins and not getting picked would be heartbreaking.

For Washington, the “Fire Sark” crowd grows with each loss in the column that piles up. Despite getting to bowl eligibiity, many Washington fans are expecting more from the program and seeing progress that goes beyond qualifiying for the Humanitarian Bowl. Unfair or not, this is an expectation that he can put to rest with a victory over the Cougars at home to get to eight wins.

I will be in enemy territory this Thanksgiving, unable to make it back from the east side of the state to be able to attend the game. I will be sitting in a probably lopsided pro-Coug bar with my Washington flag flying. It will be nice for the majority of the crowd to have a little bit more on the line than getting to anything less than six wins. It will also be nice for the Dawgs to get a victory over a team with some more momentum going for it than Oregon State.

It’s that week kids, get your colors out. Warm up the Apple Cup jokes and get ready for a game that both teams are going to be revved up to win.

I love college football.

The cool thing is though is that we are BACK on KRKO with our own segment, No Fair Weather Fans.  Good times & huzzah!

In the meantime, listen to Ben enjoy his Cougar victory, and Brad already drinking the Kool-Aid for next year and the bowl season.  Boise State is down apparently.  They only lost to Michigan State on the road in a nail biter  and SDSU at home.  They are clearly trash!

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I celebrated on the field because my participation (in attending the game) was so pivotal I felt the need stand where the players who did the real work got to stand.

This photo was taken somewhere near mid-field after the Huskies beat USC in 2009, by a score of 16-13. USC was ranked (no Matt Barkley though) and UW was coming off the worst season in the history of history. It was Sark vs Carroll, blah, blah, blah, – long story short, UW won and I ran down on the field.

This wasn’t the first time I have done it either. I found myself on the field in Pullman twice, once my freshman year when Washington won 51-3 and went to the Rose Bowl, and the other time when Kai Ellis picked off Matty Kegel and ruined arguably one of the best seasons of Washington State football ever had been played to that point.

I also want to add that this is a slightly reactionary post to the news that is starting to trickle out now about Austin Sefarian-Jenkins getting socked in the face by a fan after the Apple Cup. I am sure news will continue to trickle out about this incident in the week ahead (please note internet trolls, if I am so lucky to pick up a few, I haven’t blamed anyone who is affiliated with Washington State University and will not insinuate so until a proper investigation, if one takes place – takes place) and will also shape this post.

The point of this rant, however, is that fans don’t belong on the field of play, regardless of how big your (the royal “your” being used liberally) win is over any opponent. Unless you ran one in for the score, hit the game winning three or play the trombone. Get off the field and go to the bar.

In my limited internet research on the topic (and really sticking to the Apple Cup for research purposes this one) is that there hasn’t been much good out of fans going on the field in any way, shape or form after a victory.

Exhibit A – 2005 Apple Cup

You win at life dudebro – and nice call with the flops in November.

The best part about this image is that UW didn’t even win this one, but Cap’n America here feels the need to stop the evil doing that is celebrating a win. I won’t get into the merits of celebrating as a visiting player in this fashion on your rivals field, but either way – WSU won. Go home, Dawg fans.

University of Washington minutemen were called upon from the bell tower to stop the redcoats from coming.

Exhibit B – 2010 Apple Cup

In this video (I would embed it but WordPress keeps stripping out the goodness), you see various Huskies fans on the field after a victory, getting pelted with snowballs and getting arrested. If anything, I learned rushing the field as a visitor makes you a target if anything else.

Here’s a thumbnail from the video. I don’t know how this guy got all bloodied up, but methinks if he just stayed in his seat, filed out of Martin like a regular human being and went to Moscow, ID to drink – he might not have that busted nose.

I don’t know about you, but a victory for the “royal we” isn’t as sweet until a spectator has spilled blood as well.

Exhibit C – 2012 Apple Cup

This one kinda goes without saying – when fans (regardless of affiliation, student, fan, random, terrorist) start punching players, this is only going to get worse. Now, this is a developing situation with more to come I am sure, but the .gif don’t lie – someone rocked ASJ’s world.

Thanks to the guys at CougCenter for putting these together from the video footage.

The precedence from this one is a little scary. Now players have to defend themselves from the horde. I think that we are all so lucky that ASJ didn’t go after that guy – who knows what that could have incited (probably a loss for ASJ) but now it is just another thing to think about for fans and players alike. I would hate to see a player act out of apparent self-defense by crushing the face of a freshman biology major on their way to the 50-yard line who had no intention of touching anyone, or an apparent tough guy like this one sucker punching Mackey Award finalists when they aren’t paying attention.

I rest my case.

Now, I can already hear the detractors with

• Let the kids have their fun!
• Oh, they were just drunk!
• This guy doesn’t represent all of us.
• When we upset a team, we deserve to celebrate in that fashion!

…and all of these are stupid. The fans don’t deserve anything more than 4 quarters on a football field and a victor declared by playing said game within the framework of the rules. The fans deserve to cheer, boo, hiss, jump up and down, and lastly have a good time. Fans don’t deserve or belong on the field. You personally didn’t win the game, so you don’t get to be down there. It makes as much sense as me rushing a Boeing board meeting because they are selling planes. I am a Boeing fan, I like to see them succeed, but I don’t belong where the people actually doing the work are. Plus, it is way more fun when you let the players do the celebrating/retaliating.

Just ask George Teague.

I was laying in bed with my girlfriend last night and she said I needed to change things up. She said we were in a bit of a rut. We apparently have been doing the same thing a lot lately. Of course, I am not talking about the bedroom activities and “we” is Brad and myself. She thought we have been writing and talking about a lot of the same things lately. So, I looked around for something new. I went through all our old posts and this what I have found. There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the Sounders. We have been to and watched a lot of the games on TV, we just haven’t addressed their success very much. There have been a lot of distractions that have kind of taken away the coverage of the Sounders. We had a Felix perfect game, an arena deal going on for a few months and the beginning of the football season. The Sounders are quietly putting together another great season.

Since the Seattle Sounders made the jump from A-League to MLS it has been nothing but success. They won three consecutive U.S. Open Cups and missed out on a fourth consecutive on a controversial call in a shootout. Advancing deep in CONCACAF competitions is a standard, as well. MLS playoffs have been a bit of a problem. It’s not the making the playoffs that is the problem, it’s the winning in the playoffs. They haven’t been able to get out of the first round playoffs with losses to Houston, Los Angeles and Salt Lake. Is this the year they make the playoff push.

This year has been different. The Sounders have been an offensive threat all year boasting the leagues second best goal differential at plus 15. There is great balance between the offense and the defense. There isn’t a heavy reliance on goaltending like in years past. The Sounders know they can score with anyone. Mauro Rosales leads the MLS in assists. The addition of Eddie Johnson has paid off big time. He is fourth in the league in scoring with 13 goals in 23 games. The glue that keeps the whole team is probably Freddie Montero who is seventh in the MLS in goals and has added six assists on top of that.

The players have really started to come together as a unit after a bit of a rough patch earlier this season. The offensive explosion against Chivas USA a couple of weeks showed just how worried teams should be when facing the Sounders. The 6-2 victory featured a hat trick from Montero and goals from Brad Evans and Sammy Ochoa. There was even an own goal by Chivas defender Ante Jazic. Apparently, he even knows the Sounders are the team to play for and wanted in on the action. I fully expected him to rip his jersey and show a Seattle jersey underneath.

All things are going well for the Sounders at the right time. Everyone should expect a great playoff run from this squad. Jump on the bandwagon now, because when the playoffs come around there might not be any room left. They play their rival the Portland Timbers, Saturday at 12:30p. This will be a nationally televised game on NBC. It will be the first regular season MLS match on national television since June 29th, 2008. Even America knows this is the best team to watch. Watch the match and see what a great team the city of Seattle has.