Student group looks to revamp the the image of CU football fans
For the members of Buffed Up, Saturday football games mean lots of black and yellow acrylic paint.
Members of the fan group gather to paint their bodies black and gold before every football game in the name of good sportsmanship.
As the group painted up for the game against Kansas on Saturday, they were clearly excited to get to the stadium and cheer on the Buffs.
As they waved their arms to dry the paint, they called out their letters.
“I want to be a G!” yelled one of the members. “I NEED to be an O!” another said from across the patio. “G-O right here!” said Kaylee Kerr, a junior communication major, as she pointed to herself and friend Tori Hamm, also a junior communication major.
This Saturday tradition started about two years ago, after the CU football game against Nebraska on Nov. 25, 2005.
Taylor Nelson, who graduated from CU in 2007, started the group after he was kicked out of the Nebraska game. Stadium security removed an entire section of students from the game because several of them threw trash and bottles onto Folsom Field.
Nelson and his friends were not involved in throwing the trash, he said, but security removed them anyway to avoid a team penalty from the referees.
Nelson wrote a letter to Athletic Director Mike Bohn with a proposal for a new kind of student group at the games.
According to Nelson, he and his friends wanted to do something about the negative image of CU students that a few disrespectful fans established during the nationally televised events of the Nebraska game.
“If they were willing to provide the acrylic paint and water for us to drink after cheering, we would paint up at every home game,” said Buffed Up member Brian Hickey. “We told him that we would be a catalyst for positive change at the stadium.”
Buffed Up promises to stay at every game until the end, no matter what the score is.
“Its tough because CU fans decide to leave on their own when they feel like our team can’t come back,” Nelson said. “But we always stay until the clock runs out, no matter what. We really try to get into the same rhythm of cheering for the entire game.”
The students in Buffed Up also vowed to paint up for every home game, regardless of the weather.
“Two years ago, we played Texas A&M on a bitter cold, windy day,” Nelson said. “We were blowing them out, so it was hard for us to stay excited in the freezing cold. But we kept jumping up and down until the very end.”
While the group is committed to supporting their team in a respectful way, members of the group also said it is about going out and having a good time.
After the game, the group hits the showers to wash off the layers of acrylic paint that they used to support their team.
“We always go to the Recreation Center afterwards to shower,” Kerr said. “It’s so much easier when you don’t have to clean the paint out of your own shower when you’re done.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Amanda Walck at amanda.walck@thecampuspress.com
