Win the day for Crimson & Gray

In honor of WSU's resounding men's basketball victory against long-time rival Gonzaga on Wednesday night, I present to you the Cougars' number one fan ...

 [Wazzu's lounging on my WSU sweatshirts called for a little impromptu photoshoot.]

The thorough rout the Cougs put on Gonzaga eased the sting of Saturday's Apple Cup loss. Despite dropping the rival football game to Washington, the fiance and I had a great time at the viewing party at the Coug alum-owned Tilted Kilt in Scottsdale. 

The Arizona alumni group is strong, which is something the California groups seemed to lack. The highlights were meeting fellow Cougs and the Apple Cup trivia contest put on by chapter president Danna and her rad boyfriend Tripp. Our team tied for second, but we left with a little WSU loot.

As the chapter's newly-appointed co-vice president, I'm looking forward to being in an active alumni group with people who share my level of school pride. Planning for the men's basketball games in Tempe and Tucson is going to be fun!

[Saturday's Apple Cup viewing party goodies. Sometimes coming in second does pay off.]

Poster of success?

If that's true, the Cougs will be the 28th best football team in the country this upcoming season. If not, well, they still have the 28th best schedule poster in the land according to Bleacher Report. Criteria for making the list included clarity, schedule (Is it clear and easy to follow? ... Not strength of), photo quality, uniqueness, eye appeal and coolness factor.

You can request WSU schedule posters and cards here. It looks like they're out of football ones, though. I still haven't found a place to get past posters. Maybe it's worth a call to the marketing and promotions department?! I have a collection of sports schedule posters from my time in Pullman sitting in the closet waiting to be framed when we have a house with a game room.

And on a geeky note, I couldn't be more pleased to see three of my favorite things, college football, visual design and my school, combined.

Oregon State was the only other Pac-10 school on the list, coming in at No. 25.

Vanderbilt was No. 1, but I didn't think it was anything special.

Honorable mentions:

No. 3: Bowling Green

No. 4: Iowa State

 

No. 5: Minnesota 

No. 7: LSU

No. 26: Louisville

 No. 35: Baylor

No. 43: Wake Forest 

 No. 48: Navy

[All posters courtesy of schools' sports information departments]