Hawaii to test itself against Wyoming’s ‘Cowboy Tough’ mentality
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LARAMIE, Wyo. — Welcome to “Laradise” — Laramie to outsiders — where fortitude appears to be a requirement of citizenship for this southeastern Wyoming town.
The state’s sport is rodeo.
The 126-year-old Buckhorn Bar and Parlor, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is noted for: 1) sports-watching gatherings and, 2) a bullet hole in a back-bar mirror. Per newspaper accounts, the bullet was fired from across East Ivinson Avenue in 1971; the hole remains because of the expense of replacing the mirror.
According to local lore, a past rite of passage was for college freshmen to do the “Buckhorn Roll” down the bar’s staircase.
When a visitor from Hawaii was served a Diet Coke this week, the Buckhorn bartender refused payment.
“We don’t charge for soda,” she said.
Most of Laramie’s street parking also is free. The penny meters have long since been removed. It is a tradeoff for life at 7,200 feet above sea level and frigid winters. The residents, notably the members of the University of Wyoming’s football team, embrace being “Cowboy Tough.”
“Just a mentality,” said Wyoming offensive lineman Rex Johnsen, whose Cowboys play host to Hawaii today at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 a.m.
“Every day we come in with that Cowboy Tough mentality with anything we do,” Johnsen said. “It’s just kind of having that intense mindset that you’re just gonna be a badass, like in anything you do on the field, in the classroom, in the workouts. Anything.”
Wyoming nose tackle Jayden Williams added: “That’s just the standard that we live up to. It’s like the ultimate level of what we say Cowboy football is.”
The Cowboys not reared in high altitude insist the thinner air is impactful on breathing, stamina and the extra distance of a thrown or kicked football.
“When I first got here,” said quarterback Tyler Hughes, who grew up Marietta, Ga. (1,128-foot elevation), “running was pretty tough. It’s not easy to just wake up in the morning and run at 7,000 feet in the air.”
The Rainbow Warriors, who arrived late Thursday, are hopeful of making the adjustment. They used the previous bye week to emphasize conditioning. At the end of practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Warriors ran a series of sideline-to-sideline sprints.
Asked about the keys to playing in high elevation, UH defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman said, “Hydration and not thinking about it. You guys make a big deal about it. But if you’re in great shape, it doesn’t matter.”
Last year, the Warriors won both games in high altitude — 6,033 feet against Air Force and 5,010 against Colorado State. UH’s Micah Alejado collectively completed 71.8% of his passes for an average of 379.0 yards.
“It’s all in your mind,” associate head coach Chris Brown said. “At the end of the day, it’s the preparation we do. It’s the extra burpees. It’s the extra conditioning. It’s being able to control your breathing when your heart rate goes up.”
The past two weeks, Brown taught the players the breathing technique used by Navy SEALs during missions.
“A lot of times (the SEALs are) traveling and moving,” Brown said. “The anxiety and stress levels already are high. It makes the heart rate go higher. The moment they have a break, that’s when they use that breathing.”
Brown said today’s rivalry game has significance. With last year’s victory, the Warriors claimed the Paniolo Trophy, which was first awarded when UH joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1979. It was discontinued 20 years later when Wyoming joined seven other schools in seceding from the WAC to form the Mountain West.
In 2012, the rivalry resumed the UH football team joined the Mountain West. But in the interim, the trophy could not be located. A new trophy was created.
“The paniolo is a huge part of our culture,” Brown said. “Every Friday, a lot of our coaches wear palaka shirts. It’s pretty dear to my heart. A lot of my family members were in the rodeo. It’s pretty cool we’re playing for a trophy that represents Hawaiian cowboys and also for them, their Cowboys.”
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