Putting the 'F' in Smurf Turf

Smurf Turf No. 5 was recently installed in Boise, and it's as ugly as ever.

Ask the question "Who we do hate?" on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow and you'll get an exuberant response, "Boise State!"

But what's seen as passion by some, is viewed as rancor and ill will by others. And that has a 40-year-old gridiron rivalry between the Idaho Vandals and Boise State Broncos in serious doubt after this season.

In fact it looks like it's dead already, when the Broncos make a proverbial step up and join the Mountain West Conference in 2011.

"I frankly don't care whether we ever play 'em again as long as it goes," BSU president Bob Kustra said this week to the Idaho Statesman editorial board. "It's a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn't give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team."

Kustra wasn't done, "for me, this is not about football. For me, this is a cultural issue. ... What bothers me more than anything else, is that the fans are not about denigrating our athletic program. ... What bothers me personally is the denigration of our academic programming."

Boise State's president got one thing right in all of that. It is a cultural issue, just not of the inebriated type.

A lot of this "hate" has do to with geography.

Moscow sits in Idaho's panhandle, which was mistakenly made part of the state. A general culture of contempt has been brewing between the panhandle and the south since 1864, when bandits stole the capital from Lewiston (30 miles from Moscow) and moved it to Boise.

So what's really driving this college rivalry apart? Napoleon's complex.

Boise didn't open its doors until 1932, and started as a junior college. Since then it has battled against the establishment, to move up.

It's widely rumored (because these things are not published) that BSU has repeatedly struggled to earn accreditation for several of its academic programs. That's why Vandals "denigrate" Boise's academics, making them the butt of some pretty funny jokes.

But now on the Smurf Turf, the Broncos have its one area that it can beat Idaho. Football is Boise State's way to compensate for its "F's" in the classroom.

Before the Broncos bolt for the MWC, they want to stick it to their "big brother" one last time and then permanently shut the door, cutting off any risk of enduring another 12-game rivalry losing streak.

If this is indeed the end of the Idaho-BSU rivalry, it doesn't change a thing for me. I'll still hate Boise State.

Update - Friday, July 30, 2010

It now appears this column, “Can't hide Vandal pride,” is what started this rivalry brouhaha.

Part of this professional response was included in the Idaho Statesman article, but here's the full statement from U of I president Duane Nellis on the rivalry situation.

Some people are starting to take notice of what I've known all along, there's an arrogance growing in Boise. SI.com writer Andy Staples says Boise State is becoming a big-time program in all the wrong ways.

And some people are just having fun with the whole thing. “Nasty Inebriated” T-shirts are starting to sell in Moscow.