Sideline Report With Lauren Hamida

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Hey everyone! My name is Lauren Hamada, and I am a senior at Washington State University!​

This weekend we traveled to Seattle, WA to play the University of Oregon. This is a huge game for us, since we got to play at CenturyLink Field, where the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks play! The day before the game our mascot, Butch T. Cougar and I went to the Seattle Children’s Hospital to hand out stuffed animals to the kids. The kids’ reactions were priceless! (Who doesn’t love stuffed animals?!)​

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After all the sweet hugs and smiles from the kids, we headed to our next big event in downtown Seattle to “Wave the Flag!” WSU is famous for having a flag at EVERY ESPN College Game Day location, so “Wave the Flag!” has become our signature tradition! Saturday morning we got to visit the “Cougar Yacht Club,” on the water front of Lake Washington! We held a little pep rally on the docks and then got to visit some of the yachts! We even made it on ESPN2!​

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When the game finally started Saturday night, we were ready to take on the #2 Oregon Ducks! After leading the team into the stadium for the “Cougar Prowl,” we got set to begin our pregame show with the Cougar Marching Band! They start with the national anthem, then go into playing our fight song and other WSU anthems such as “All Hail.” Then they form a tunnel for the team to run out of as we lead the way with tumblers, flags, and Butch T. Cougar!​

The first half was a great one for out team as they kept it close and the crowd kept it loud! We have a lot of great game traditions such as tumbling after touchdowns, leading the crowd in First Down celebrations, and yelling “Go Cougs!” on kickoffs! But my favorite is when we’re on Defensive 3rd Downs and the band plays their version of “Jaws” to get the crowd pumped up! We perform lots of skills throughout the game and timeouts, from partner stunts and tumbling, to pyramids and baskets!​

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In the end, the Cougars played their hearts out, but Oregon did as well and ended up beating us. I’m still just as proud to be a Coug, and as we say here at WSU, “ONCE A COUG, ALWAYS A COUG!”​

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-Lauren​