Season-long rivalry features Big Sky Conference competition in five sports between Eagles and Vikings
The Eastern Washington University Eagles and the Portland State University Vikings will begin a five-sport rivalry cup called The Dam Cup in 2010-11. The Dam Cup will celebrate the friendly rivalry between the states of Oregon and Washington within the Big Sky Conference.
The so-named rivalry refers to the four dams linking Oregon and Washington that one passes on the 339-mile drive from the Portland State campus to the Eastern Washington campus. Located along the Columbia River, they are Bonneville Dam, The Dalles Dam, The John Day Dam and the McNary Dam.
The five sports competing for the cup are football, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, women’s basketball and men’s basketball. Events counting toward the Dam Cup include:
Soccer - Oct. 8 - Eastern at Portland State
Volleyball - Oct. 9 - Eastern at Portland State
Football - Oct. 30 - Eastern at Portland State
Volleyball - Nov. 6 - Portland State at Eastern
Men's Basketball - Jan. 8 - Eastern at Portland State
Women' Basketball - Jan. 8 - Portland State at Eastern
Men's Basketball - Jan. 27 - Portland State at Eastern
Women's Basketball - Jan. 27 - Eastern at Portland State
The purpose of the Dam Cup is to create a rivalry between Portland State University and Eastern Washington University and provide a sense of pride between alumni in the Portland and Spokane areas. Other goals include increasing attendance at events between both schools and building school spirit among each institutions' student body.
The winner of the Dam Cup will possess The Dam Trophy acknowledging the achievement for the following year.
The Dam Cup is based on a point system. Each game played in the five sports between the two schools has a point value. Points are only rewarded for regular season contests. The annual football game is worth four points, the women’s soccer match is worth one point, each women’s volleyball match is worth two points for a total of four points possible, and each men's and women’s basketball game is worth two points for a total of four points possible in each sport, The total points possible are 17 which means that to win the cup a school would need to win at least 9 points.
If scoring had taken place last year, PSU would have won, 10.5 to 6.5 (football-EWU (4); soccer-tie (0.5 each); men's basketball-PSU two wins (4); women's basketball-split (2 each); volleyball-PSU two wins (4).
Sac State and cal-davis have a similar thing called the Causeway Cup. It was meant to bring some excitement that is displayed for the football game to the other sports. I never bought into it that much (it can only do so much as both schools aren’t in the same conference). It will become virtually meaningless when one of the schools will outright refuse to compete in one of the sports (cal-davis refused to have a dual meet with us in track and field last season) thereby defeating the purpose of having the arrangement in the first place.
But in this case, seeing as both schools are in the same conference and geographically close to one another, I could see this catching on.
We're pretty evenly matched in football, soccer, basketball and volleyball. Should work. Not as close as Sac and Davis, but close enough. So much, by the way, for all the talk about WAC membership. We wouldn't dive into this if it were in the offing.
I wish Weber had a REAL rivalry and a trophy was won or something like that.
All we have is the Border War with ISU , It could get more interesting if we could call it like the Battle of I-15 and there was a trophy or something to win. or if the rivalry wasnt so one-sided
Eventually I think Weber and UNC will be rivals because of how close we are. especially in b-ball
What it is, is a push by both schools to try to create a natural rivalry within the conference for both teams. Oregon and Washington have enjoyed a strong rivalry in the Pac-10, so much that in the early 90's, the Huskies were arguably considered a better rival for the Ducks than the hapless (at the time) Beavers. Politics in the Northwest have long been dominated by the actions of both state governments. As far as the Portland area and the Spokane area, both have pretty comparable teams in the WHL that have seen their share of excitement. On the college level, Gonzaga (Spokane) and the U of Portland have had a long rivalry in the WCC in all sports, notably basketball and soccer. Obviously, both PSU and EWU are trying capitalize on this. This year the football game will be played in its fourth different venue in the last four years (Cheney 2007, Portland 2008, Seattle 2009, Hillsboro 2010), so any attempt to generate excitement is appreciated.
Cool I like it. Now let's start the dam season.
