Trip to Great Northwest Spotlights How Special Atmosphere Around Hogs Truly Is

There's the SEC, then there's the rest of the world in terms of college athletic support and Arkansas tops them all

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Sep 21, 2023 1:25 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It's been nearly a full week since I last wrote a story for allHogs. Part of that is because the managerial duties I handle in the background take up a lot of time, but it's mostly because it was my wife and I's 20th wedding anniversary and after everything that has happened over the past three years, I wanted to do something big to show her how much I appreciate her.

Those who have followed me since 2020, much of which has been documented on these pages, know a lot of the hills we've faced, so I spent the past year saving money so I could show up at the school where she teaches in a limo in the middle of the day (with her principal's approval of course) and surprise her with a trip out to Seattle. I've worked pretty much non-stop for the past few years, so it was important to shut everything down and do my best to just be with the woman who has stood along my side through so much these past two decades.

The weather was insanely amazing, and other than my wife being down for a bit because the Razorbacks' tough loss to BYU after that hot start, it was an awesome time. While we were there, I had promised my daughter we would explore the area around the University of Washington and also wander around campus for a short time. It's a beautiful campus that any native Arkansan would appreciate, and with the weather being what it was, it was more like going on a hike through a mountain park than seeing a college.

But one thing stood out the whole time we were in Seattle. No one ever said a word about the Washington Huskies. This is a Top 10 football team and no matter where we went, no one talked about them. We even heard talk about the Kracken, the local hockey team, and the Sounders, the local soccer team, but nothing on the Huskies.

If no one was talking about them, then it should come as no surprise that no one was wearing their gear. In Arkansas, it doesn't matter which corner of the state you're in, if you go to dinner or hit a shopping area, you're going to see Razorback gear.

Even when we explored the area in and around campus, there appeared to be no support for Washington athletics. We drove up and down the University District, and area just off campus similar in nature to the area around Dixon Street. Didn't see a single sign in a window or anything supporting Washington athletics.

Across the street from one corner of campus is a shopping center called University Village. Not one banner or even a hint of purple and gold. If you could have seen through the trees up the hill, you would be staring at the school itself from relatively close range, but we might as well have been in Charlotte, North Carolina because there was nothing to distinguish that Washington students and fans frequent the area.

Even on campus, which was empty at 10 a.m. on a Monday except for a handful of students visiting for Husky Days, there was no indication anyone supported the school's athletic team. Just imagine standing in front of Old Main the third week of September and the campus is not only empty because students won't arrive for another week, but there's no way to tell you're at the home of the Arkansas Razorbacks. It's baffling. Sure, school hadn't started yet, but has that ever kept anyone from standing in any part of Fayetteville and not know the Razorbacks are a major part of the local culture?

We did eventually find a single banner displaying the image of Dub, the Huskies mascot. There was also a very small box of tiny posters just outside the visitor's center with the football schedules rolled white side out so it was impossible to know what they are at first. It was as if they were trying to trick people into taking them.

As a kid, I would go to friends' homes in South Arkansas and nearly every one had a giant poster of the most recent football or basketball schedule taped onto their door taking up the entire upper half. There was a lot of effort that went into getting those, yet here was a place hoping someone might accidentally take the smallest of football posters home.

Year after year, as recruits pour through the door, we hear stories of how amazed they are at the fan support. To them it's insane how the whole state is drenched in red and a Hog Call can break out anywhere from a Wal-Mart to the local bank. To the people of Arkansas, it's just how they assume it is everywhere else.

And when it comes to the SEC, that's how it truly is. Having zipped across the Southeast portion of the U.S. down back roads, highways and by plane, that's just life. People scoff at the SEC commercials about how in these states it just means more, but if you travel enough, you come to realize it truly does.

Yet, even among the SEC, Arkansas stands a cut above. Louisiana is about the only place I have found to come close to mirroring the passion on such an extreme level. However, not only does every non-super fancy restaurant and gas station from Bella Vista to McGhee line its walls and doors with Razorback gear, but schools literally stop down when Razorback basketball plays an NCAA Tournament game during the day because they know almost none of the kids will pay attention.

Razorback basketball player Keyon Menifield was a star at Washington last year. I wanted to ask people in and around campus about him and what the Hogs might be getting to relay a first-hand account back to the people of Arkansas. Unfortunately, there was no one who seemed interested in Washington athletics on or near campus to speak on it.

More people in Arkansas knew about Menifield and were invested in him as a player in the first five minutes he hit the portal than appear to be among the Husky fan base as a whole. The university itself is a fine academic institution. It's actually one of the best in a long list of academic areas, and if our daughter chooses to go there, we will be quite proud. It just doesn't have that traditional college campus burning with fever on Saturdays in fall feel those in Arkansas are used to experiencing.

This state is just different. The people here don't see it because they assume that's the way it is everywhere.
But it's not. It's just not.