"Stomp the Bus" is the name given to the entrance video played before every Arizona State Sun Devils football game at Sun Devil Stadium. It was created in 2004 as a way to increase supporter participation and features a giant personification of Sparky the Sun Devil, Arizona State University's mascot, crushing the bus of the opposing team underfoot. [1]
The original video starts with a solar flare from the Sun that launches towards Earth and lands in Arizona. [2] A giant Sparky emerges from that flare. Sparky then walks across Arizona, passing known state landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and Camp Tontozona before arriving in Tempe, where the university is located. The scene then cuts to a view of Sun Devil Stadium with a bus covered in the opposing team's colors and logo (which change depending on the game day opponent). The giant stomps the bus underfoot before stepping into the stadium and spiking his trident into the field. [1] [3]
The updated intro video from 2013 is still in use as of 2023. The video starts out the same as the original one; a solar flare from the sun launches toward Earth and lands in the middle of Arizona. As a result of the flare, the Palo Verde Generating Station malfunctions, and the power goes out. It then cuts to the location of the flare where a giant Sparky emerges from it. With his trident, Sparky creates a haboob and starts walking. He walks around the Phoenix Metro area with the haboob following him. He passes through Downtown Phoenix and walks over the traffic on the highway. Sparky then crosses Tempe Town Lake via the Mill Avenue bridges and walks around the Hayden Flour Mill. Sparky stomps the bus before stepping into the stadium and spiking his trident into the field.
The original "Stomp the Bus" video was created in 2004 by True Story Films. [4] The video became popular with ASU students and became a tradition prior to every Sun Devils home game. In 2011, "Stomp the Bus" was not played during the Sun Devils' season, which led to fans lamenting the apparent demise of this modern tradition. [1] However the reason for the omission was that the video was being updated to improve the quality using new editing techniques and to include the student who played Sparky at the time. [4] [5] The playing of "Stomp the Bus" returned to Sun Devil Stadium the season after. [1] The updated "Stomp the Bus" was well received and was the joint winner of the 2013 Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards for Best Editor – Short Form (Promos, PSAs, Commercials, Opens, etc.). [6] In 2018, Sun Devils coach Rob Likens stated that he felt that seeing "Stomp the Bus" was so inspirational, he believed it might have had the effect of inspiring ASU's opposition. [7]
Arizona State University is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is now one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the United States. It was one of about 180 "normal schools" founded in the late 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growing public common schools. Some closed, but most steadily expanded their role and became state colleges in the early 20th century, then state universities in the late 20th century.
Mountain America Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. The stadium is officially named Mountain America Stadium, Home of the ASU Sun Devils. It was named Sun Devil Stadium until 2023. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The stadium's seating capacity as of 2018 is 53,599, reduced from a peak of 74,865 in 1989. The natural grass playing surface within the stadium was named Frank Kush Field in 1996 in honor of the former coach of the team. The stadium underwent a five-year, $304-million renovation that was completed in August 2019.
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale and the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler on the south, and Mesa on the east. Tempe is also the location of the main campus of Arizona State University.
Sparky the Sun Devil is the official mascot of Arizona State University. Originally the ASU athletic teams' mascot was an owl, then became a "Normal". It was later changed to a bulldog in an attempt to make the school – Arizona State Teacher's College at the time – appear more in line with Yale and other universities that held a higher level of respect. The State Press, the student newspaper, ran frequent appeals during the fall of 1946, urging the Bulldog to be replaced by the new Sun Devil. On November 8, 1946, the student body voted 819 to 196 to make the change. On November 20, as reported by the Arizona Republic, the student council made it official. The following day, the first Arizona State team played as the Sun Devils. Two years later, Stanford Alum and Disney illustrator Berk Anthony designed "Sparky", a devil holding a trident. Anthony is rumored to have based Sparky's facial features on that of his former boss, Walt Disney.
The Arizona–Arizona State football rivalry is a college football rivalry between the University of Arizona Wildcats (UA) and the Arizona State University Sun Devils (ASU).
Desert Financial Arena is a 14,198-seat multi-purpose arena located at 600 E Veterans Way in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. It sits immediately east of Mountain America Stadium on the northern edge of the Tempe campus of Arizona State University (ASU).
The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. The mascot was adopted in 1946; earlier nicknames were the Normals and later, the Bulldogs. The Sun Devil mascot, Sparky, was designed by former Disney illustrator Bert Anthony. ASU's chief rival is the University of Arizona Wildcats, and both universities' athletics departments compete against each other in the Territorial Cup Series.
The Sun Devil Marching Band (SDMB), also known as The Pride of the Southwest, is the athletic band of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devil Marching Band motto is “Expect Great Things.” The acronym EGT is inscribed on a sign that hangs from the director's podium towering over the band's practice field, and is a symbol of the high standards that band members strive to meet. The ASU Band program, which includes the Marching, Pep, and Dixieland bands, is a part of the Sun Devil Athletics department. The band is currently under the direction of Director of Athletic Bands James G. "The Hammer" Hudson, who took over the program in 2006. The Sun Devil Marching Band is a major ambassador for Arizona State University and the state of Arizona. Each year almost 500,000 people are entertained by the band, which plays at home football at Sun Devil Stadium and as a pep band for basketball games at Wells Fargo Arena, homecoming, bowl game parades, other community events in the Valley, across the country, and even abroad.
Packard Stadium was a college baseball park in the southwestern United States, located in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb just east of Phoenix. It was the home field of the Arizona State Sun Devils of the Pac-12 Conference from 1974 to 2014.
The 2006 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's coach was Dirk Koetter who was fired after the season. It played its home games at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
The Arizona State Sun Devils football team represents Arizona State University in the sport of American college football. The Sun Devils team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Arizona State University has fielded a football team since 1897. The Sun Devils are led by head coach Kenny Dillingham and play their home games at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils have won seventeen conference titles.
Frederick Mortimer "Cap" Irish was an American football coach, college athletics administrator, and science instructor. He served as the first head football coach at the Territorial Normal School, renamed Tempe Normal School in 1903 and now known as Arizona State University, coaching from 1897 to 1906 and compiling a record of 12–8. Territorial Normal did not field a football team in 1898 or 1901. Irish was also the first athletic director at Territorial/Tempe Normal, serving from 1896 to 1913. In addition, he taught science at the school. Irish Field one of the original homes of Arizona State Football was also named after the coach and administrator.
Goodwin Stadium was a stadium in Tempe, Arizona. It hosted the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team until they moved to Sun Devil Stadium in 1958, as well as the team for local Tempe High School until 1969. The stadium held 15,000 people at its peak and was opened in 1936. The first football game played was on Friday, October 3, 1936, when the Arizona State Teacher's College Bulldogs defeated California Institute of Technology 26–0. The last football game played was on September 20, 1958, when ASU beat Hawaii 47–6 in front of 19,000 fans.
The 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented the Arizona State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The team's head coach was Bruce Snyder, who was coaching his fifth season with the Sun Devils and 17th season overall. Home games were played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. They participated as members of the Pacific-10 Conference.
Arizona State University Tempe campus is the main campus of Arizona State University, and the largest of the five campuses that comprise the university. The campus lies in the heart of Tempe, Arizona, about eight miles (13 km) east of downtown Phoenix. The campus is considered urban, and is approximately 642 acres (2.6 km2) in size. The campus is arranged around broad pedestrian malls and, in toto, is considered to be an arboretum. ASU has an extensive public art collection, considered one of the ten best among university public art collections in the United States. Against the northwest edge of campus is the Mill Avenue district which has a college atmosphere that attracts many students to its restaurants and bars. ASU's Tempe Campus is also home to all of the university's athletic facilities.
The 2009 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Sun Devils were coached by third-year coach Dennis Erickson and played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils finished the season 4–8.
Sun Devil Soccer Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the Arizona State Sun Devils Women's Soccer team. The stadium opened in 2000 and features chair-back bleachers and individual seats with a capacity for 1,051 fans.
The Arizona State Sun Devils men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents Arizona State University. It plays its home games at Mullett Arena in Tempe.
Irish Field served as the home to the Tempe Normal football team from 1927 to 1935 before being replaced by Goodwin Stadium in 1936.
The Arizona–Arizona State baseball rivalry is a college baseball rivalry between the University of Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State University Sun Devils. Both programs are two of the most storied and successful in college baseball history, combining for a total of 9 College World Series championships, 40 College World Series appearances, 82 NCAA tournament appearances and 27 conference regular-season championships. Since Arizona State founded a baseball program in 1907 the teams have met 489 times.