"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 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 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 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U.S.
Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, United States. It is home to the Arizona State Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The stadium's seating capacity as of 2018 is 56,634, 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 Sun Devil football team. The stadium underwent a five-year, $304-million renovation that was completed in August 2019. It was the only major football stadium in the Phoenix metropolitan area until the construction of State Farm Stadium in Glendale in 2006.
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, alumnus and Disney illustrator Bert 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. Sparky is officially known as a "mischievous imp", with no other backstory than that.
The Arizona–Arizona State football rivalry, sometimes known as the Duel in the Desert, 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 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena located at 600 E Veterans Way in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. It sits immediately east of Sun Devil Stadium on the northern edge of the Tempe campus of Arizona State University (ASU).
Phoenix Municipal Stadium is a baseball stadium, located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is often referred in short as Phoenix Muni. The stadium was built in 1964 and holds 8,775 people. It is currently the home to the Arizona State Sun Devils baseball program, having relocated to Phoenix Municipal Stadium at the start of their 2015 season. It is the former spring training home to the Oakland A's, having played their home games from 1982 to 2014. The San Francisco Giants held spring training at the ballpark from 1964 to 1981, when they moved to Scottsdale Stadium.
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.
The Arizona State Sun Devils football team represents Arizona State University in the sport of American football. The Sun Devils team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). Arizona State University has fielded a football team since 1897. The Sun Devils are led by head coach Herm Edwards and play their home games at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils have won seventeen conference titles, including three Pac-12 titles.
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.
The 1986 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were coached by Larry Smith in his seventh and final season. The Wildcats ended the season with a 9–3 record and won the Aloha Bowl against North Carolina for their first bowl win ever.
The 2015 Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Todd Graham and played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium. They were a member of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference.
The 1970 Peach Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The 1982 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third season under head coach Larry Smith, the Wildcats compiled a 6–4–1 record, finished in fifth place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents, 311 to 219. The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. Despite a winning record, the Wildcats did not appear in a bowl game, perhaps due to very few bowl games available at the time and that the six wins were not good enough. Also, late-season losses to USC and Oregon may have been a factor in the Wildcats not earning a bowl berth.
The 1985 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their sixth season under head coach Larry Smith, the Wildcats compiled an 8–3–1 record, finished in second place in the Pac-10, tied with Georgia in the 1985 Sun Bowl, and outscored their opponents, 252 to 146. The defense gave up an average of 12.2 points per game, the sixth best average in Division I-A. The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.
The 1996 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their tenth season under head coach Dick Tomey, the Wildcats compiled a 5–6 record, finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents, 310 to 280.
The 1966 Arizona State Sun Devils football team was an American football team that represented Arizona State University in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. In their ninth season under head coach Frank Kush, the Sun Devils compiled a 5–5 record, and were outscored 174 to 166.
Greg Powers is a former ice hockey goaltender who currently the head coach at his alma mater Arizona State.
The Arizona State Sun Devils Women's Ice Hockey team represents Arizona State University (ASU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League (WWCHL). The team has continuously grown stronger since being founded ahead of the 2016–17 season, subsequently with the rise of the Arizona State men's ice hockey team to the NCAA D1 level.
The 2020 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Sun Devils played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona, and competed in the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Herm Edwards.