Over two decades, the landscape of this country has drastically changed: 9/11 left its permanent stamp on the country, both Google and the iPod were invented, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc, Barack Obama was elected, and same-sex marriage was legalized. In Boulder, however, it seems that the one thing that will never change is the atmosphere of the Boulder vs Fairview rivalry game. 

Juliana Glinkman was a reporter for The Owl in 1998 and 1999. Amidst her articles about skiing, mountain biking, and ballet, she wrote one titled “Rude actions of few ruin the reputation of BHS.” Juliana describes how the immaturity and disrespect displayed by a select few students displayed both herself and the entire Boulder High community in a bad light. 

The specific incident she focused on was when the FHS cheerleaders visited the Boulder side to sit with them at half time. “As they walked over, about a dozen BHS students threw styrofoam cushions at them… students were rude and disrespectful.” Additionally, she talks about the front page article that the Daily Camera published about the game. In the article the author reprimands Boulder High students for displaying such disrespect and aggression, but Juliana disagrees and defends her greater school community. She states that the action was simply a display of immaturity by a handful of students and not a representation of the school as a whole. 

Fast forward 21 years to August 29th, 2019. Standing just feet away from where Juliana and her peers stood, the sun sets to the West of Recht field. The bleachers are filling up with BHS students all wearing white. The Fairview Poms team walks over to the BHS side to give gifts to the Boulder Poms, and the students start booing them. The echoing sound persists until they return to their side. While no styrofoam was thrown in this incident, the idea is the same in both scenarios. Additionally, the “assumptions that were made about the students” in the past were most likely along the same lines of the assumptions made this year, fed by derogatory chants and personal attacks on the opposing players. While not mutually supported, the chants and actions exchanged between opposing sides of a high school football team are perseverant. Parents may try to stop it, administration may try to stop it, even time itself may try to stop it, but this rivalry is a force to be reckoned with.

The attitude of many high school students at sports games is aggressive and passionate, but who’s to say that this is negative? While the actions of the group are certainly rude and disrespectful, the effects on the cheerleaders in this situation are unknown, and may be minimal. The gusto and sheer volume of the crowd surely has a positive impact on the sports team, but the question is if it’s worth the cost of disrespect and possibly the reputation of BHS.