As the Pac-10 basketball season mercifully winds to a close with the Cougars securely in last place, those new to WSU may just now be realizing just how difficult it can be to be a Cougar fan.

Since adopting the Cougars as my favorite team at the tender age of 5, I’ve worn my emotions on my sleeve while dealing with the peaks and valleys that accompany devoting one’s self to WSU athletics. With WSU having a very slim chance at advancing past the first round of this week’s Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles, it is time to look at the “Big Picture” here at WSU and decipher exactly what it means to be a Coug.

First and foremost, being a Cougar fan means appreciating successful seasons in any sport, no matter how seldom they come along.

Whether it was the three straight 10-win seasons in football at the start of the decade or the back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances under former basketball coach Tony Bennett, being a Coug can yield great benefits.

From experience, I can say that there was nothing better than flashing the crimson and gray on the west side of the state after pounding the Huskies in football or basketball in past years. Nowadays, that type of opportunity to show your pride in Cougar athletics is more scarce than perhaps any time in the past decade, which is all the more reason to never take a Cougar victory for granted.

Sure, I could brag about how our woman’s soccer team made the NCAA Tournament, but that wouldn’t get me very far with my cousin at UW who constantly insults WSU.

Second, being a Coug means one must be ready to shake off getting kicked in the stomach, again and again, then probably one more time for good measure, and catch their breath.

For it seems, the most beloved, most successful coaches at WSU have labeled this university as a “stepping stone” to bigger and better things. The once beloved Tony Bennett’s shunning of a massive contract here to coach in the ACC is a perfect example of this.

Additionally, former football coach Mike Price left WSU in 2002 after his second Rose Bowl run for the chance to coach at Alabama.

While this is the nature of college athletics, it doesn’t make things any easier when the coaches who could lead the Cougars to national prominence in football and basketball desert the university just when WSU seems ready to turn the corner.

Third, being a Cougar means taking a sense of pride that reflects a blue-collar ideology not commonly seen at most colleges.

Let’s face it – until Bill Moos begins his massive overhaul of the athletic department, Cougar sports teams will generally be viewed as the underdogs. WSU operates under the smallest athletic budget in the Pac-10, and the football team is already dubbed an underdog in all but one game going into the 2010 season.

However, these facts don’t necessarily cripple the university’s ability to compete at the Pac-10 level. It just means teams will have to work that much harder to be successful.

My point is that no matter how bad things may seem in football or basketball (especially right now), remember that our teams are steadily improving because the talented youth on both squads will benefit from the rough times they’ve gone through this past year.

And hey, if they both manage to disappoint again next season, at the end of the day, we still are associated with a world-class institution.

That is something to be proud of.