Good afternoon, Coug fans!

Google defines friendship as “a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an “acquaintance” or an “association”, such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague.” I think there is no greater example of this concept than our Washington State Cougars and the Oregon State Beavers, our opponents for tomorrow.

The two schools share similar struggles in terms of perception, and despite any talent that their programs might possess, no one cares. Or so it feels. In terms of troupes, it’s not quite the ‘enemies to lovers’ arc we occasionally have with Oregon when they play UW, and it’s not really the ‘bitter academic rivals who shell out respect when they absolutely have to’ we have with the Arizona schools, in my opinion. This relationship is something different entirely.

In fact, when researching this article, I typed in something along the lines of “history of Washington State Oregon State rivalry” and it kept sending me to either “Oregon State vs Washington” or “Washington State vs Oregon”. Even Google knows we’re besties.

We started the series against the Beavers losing 6-0 in 1903. While this is not the best foot to start on, clearly it hasn’t impacted our performance in the long run.

The last time we lost to Oregon State was back in 2013. I don’t mean to poke the beaver, but times were a bit different back then. First of all, I was not able to drive a car. I bet that one stings. Sorry Craig!

We don’t really like talking about 2013 though, as it was recently brought up in the Coug Center slack and briefly on Twitter. I feel like I’m going to get in trouble for writing about it here. I’m going to change the subject now.

There was also the last year of Leach, in 2019, where we got the victory by the skin of our teeth- with a final score of 54-53. Wait, nope, that year has bad vibes too. Except that is the season where we went to the Cheez-It Bowl (outcome ignored) and I bought Gabe Marks a tequila shot, and met some of my closest friends for the first time. There are two sides to every coin, as they say!

For the sake of the bit, let’s talk about the 2003 cinematic masterpiece Freaky Friday starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. The premise of the movie, as I’m sure most of you know, is a quarreling mother and daughter accidentally switch bodies and are forced to literally walk in the other ones shoes in order to develop a deeper understanding, and strengthen their relationship, and obviously chaos ensues.

All I’m saying is if we accidentally had a Freaky Friday situation with the Beavs, very little about our lives would change. I mean, just look at the cold hard facts. In recent years, both teams have been on the same trajectory, according to this graph information from Winsipedia.

But what is the point? Where am I going with this? Week after week I have written silly little jokes about other schools in this division that I do not like, or that we don’t like, so this week I just wanted to write something nice about a school that feels a little like us. I almost wish I was going to Corvallis for the game, except I don’t really want to be surrounded by the smell of cow manure. I hope we win, but I also just hope everyone has a good time. I think I’m going soft.

Go Cougs!

Links

Watch Washington State at Colorado: Stream college volleyball live - How to Watch and Stream Major League & College Sports - Sports Illustrated.
Washington State looks to extend its win streak to three games on Friday night against Colorado in a Pac-12 women's volleyball matchup

Breaking-it-Down: Football for Drama Lovers – The Daily Evergreen
Football is the most popular sport in the U.S. known for astounding athletic performances, shocking triumphs and heartbreaking defeats, but the barrier to entry for understanding the game is among the likes of cricket and mechanical engineering.

WSU rowing looks forward to new season – The Daily Evergreen
The vibes were good in the first Invitational the WSU rowing team competed in for their pre-season.

A Grip on Sports: The Mariners have to figure out this weekend how to stop Houston's version of Godzilla from stomping on their hopes | The Spokesman-Review
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s Friday. The weekend that looms is something akin to a monster in a poorly dubbed foreign sci-fi movie. Godzilla or Mothra or something on Saturday, something less dominating on Sunday. And in the middle of it are the Mariners.

Oregon State mailbag: Better catch, Harrison or Bolden? Pac-12 expansion, more Jack Colletto, please - oregonlive.com
The weekly feature where readers ask questions about Oregon State athletics, and The Oregonian/OregonLive's Nick Daschel gives an answer

Reed’s Robert Ferrel running, and catching on with the Washington State Cougars
Former Raiders' receiver attended four schools before getting shot at Pac-12 level