When the Apple Cup mattered: Seattle sportswriter pens book on UW-WSU rivalry

The Apple Cup was always my favorite game of the season. I used to make sure that I wore crimson and gray during Apple Cup week and geared up for the game like it was our Super Bowl every year.

Yes, I admit to being one of those Cougs who would be OK if we went 1-11 in any given season as long as the one win was over the Huskies.

And I love to reminisce about the Dawgs’ 2008 season. What a year that was, one loss after another. Every week I made a point to pour myself a Jack Daniel’s on the rocks and listen to the post-game show on KJR as Dave “Softy” Mahler, Hugh Millen and Dick Baird would analyze and whine about the Dawgs’ latest defeat.

No matter what Husky fans would say to us in condescending fashion, we always had a convenient comeback in our back pocket, ready to pull it out at any time:

“Yeah, but we’ve never gone 0-12 like you guys did in 2008.”

I should really send Christmas cards to Tyrone Willingham every year to thank him for that glorious season because in 2008 I had my merriest Christmas of all.

I’m that petty, that sad of a human being if you want to go that far with it. But that’s what I’ve always enjoyed about the rivalry, the back and forth barbs that we throw at each other.

So when someone like Bud Withers decided to write a book about the rivalry, “Too Good to Be Through,” it rocketed to the top of my must-read list.

I love the title of the book because it truly is, and there are reasons to think that it might not continue after the Pac-12 broke up with Washington going to the Big Ten and Washington State being in limbo the last two years.

There’s a five-year contract that will keep the Apple Cup going for the next three years, but after that, who knows? And even at that, this newfangled Apple Cup ain’t what it used to be - the last two games were played in September instead of late November, and that just felt wrong no matter which side you were on.

So in some respects, it’s perfect timing for Bud to have written a book that details every single Apple Cup going back to the first meeting in 1900.

If you’re a Husky fan, you’ll have all kinds of chapters you’ll love to read since you guys have a huge edge in the rivalry. You’ve won 77 games against the Cougs and lost only 34 to us. Six others ended in a tie, which must have been unsatisfying to both sides.

But if you’re a Coug fan, there are highlights too, such as the 1992 Snow Bowl in Pullman and the 1997 game in which the Cougs ended a 67-year Rose Bowl drought with a stirring victory at Husky Stadium.

I’ll be honest, Bud’s a good friend of mine. We were teammates at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for several years before Bud moved on to the Seattle Times. He’s also a fellow Coug, but unlike me, he’s the kind of reporter who can remain objective on a project like this, putting aside his allegiance to our alma mater for the sake of this book, playing it right down the middle.

Throughout my career, I’ve found that some men and women are great reporters and some are great writers, but Bud is a terrific blend of both, which is more than evident in “Too Good to Be Through.”

Since I’m one of those trash-talkin’ Cougs, I particularly enjoyed the chapter called “The Yapple Cup” in which Bud details some of the best quotes in Apple Cup history.

I miss the days when players from both teams would rip each other before the game was played. Coaches always worried about the so-called “bullletin board material” that might fire up the opposing team, but it was always fun to hear these players popping off and saying what us fans were saying.

Husky fans typically look down on us and don’t think we measure up in any way. They also think we play in a podunk town. As Cougs, we think the Dawgs are snooty and full of themselves and we love to knock them off their pedestal when given the chance.

It was fun to go down memory lane in “The Yapple Cup” chapter and recall what UW wide receiver Andre DeSaussure said before the 1998 Apple Cup:

“I think Pullman is a bunch of crap. It’s a place where you can go and have a good time, as far as there are being a lot of drunk people.

DeSaussure also told reporters that week that he would never take a recruiting trip to Pullman, saying: “even if they’d strangled me, I’d die first.”

Believe it or not, one of the most memorable shots taken at the Cougs was delivered by the Huskies’ legendary coach, Don James, who was always successful but rarely colorful.

“I’ve always felt being a Cougar prepares you very well for life,” the Dawgfather said. “You learn not to expect too much.”

The Cougs got their shots in too. Before the 1997 game, wide receiver Chris Jackson said: “I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let the Huskies get in my way of going to the Rose Bowl. I just want to go do what we set out to do and go in and kill them. We’re looking forward to studying them pretty well and going out to put 40, 50 points on them.

Washington State did just that, winning 41-35 and punching our ticket to Pasadena for the first time since 1931 as Jackson had a sensational afternoon.

If I didn’t already have “Too Good to Be Through,” I’d be delighted to unwrap a copy of Bud’s book at Christmas. I’m guessing any Coug or Husky would feel the same way.

You can find “Too Good to Be Through” on Amazon or at local bookstores too.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com, where this article first appeared. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.