The return of the Rocky Mountain Showdown may be the reigniting of an old tradition for many Colorado State University fans, but for newcomers, it can be hard to understand what this game is and why it matters.

Krazy Karl’s Pizza is prepared to carry on the spirit of the game. Owner Nate Haas and his family have been lifelong fans, and while they support CSU in every way they can, the Rocky Mountain Showdown is the game they always want to win most. 

“To me and a lot of CSU fans, it’s our No. 1 game of the year,” Nate Haas said. “I think Wyoming is a good rival, but to me, I want to beat Boulder more than any other team. And it’s been that way for a long time.”

Nate Haas grew up a Ram, meeting his wife Claudia Haas at CSU. They both graduated in December 2005 and haven’t stopped being Rams fans for a moment since. 

“Since the late ’70s, we’ve been going to games and following the CSU athletic department and promoting it every way we can individually,” Nate Haas said. “Once we opened the business, it became easier to be able to do larger amounts of promotion for the school.”

Krazy Karl’s is the official watch party sponsor for the Rocky Mountain Showdown as well as the other away games this season. They’ve been giving back to CSU as soon as they were able to, and the better the year, the more they are able to give back to a community they love. 

Though new students may be at a loss for what this game means to longtime fans, it wasn’t too long ago that the whole Front Range would get riled up about the prospect of winning. 

“The buzz on campus was not if you were going, it was how you were getting down there,” said Kaitlin Forte, manager of business partnerships for the CSU Alumni Association. “Everyone really rallies around this game, and it’s our in-state rivalry.”

Forte graduated from CSU in 2015 and began working for the Iris & Michael Smith Alumni Center in 2021. Being from Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t grow up around the Rams, but she’s become a fan since. 

“It was always really fun to engage in the rivalry and to be able to kind of share all of that with other students and alums,” Forte said. “I mean, everyone flocks to those games. So it was a really fun experience as a student and definitely, like, some of my greatest memories.”

Nate Haas gets to engage with all of these students every year, bringing in that young Ram energy and pulling in would-be fans from all over. He loves having full restaurants, especially when he gets to meet people from out of town who could be new Rams fans. 

“We want them to care,” Nate Haas said. “I have friends that are from all different areas of the country, and they want to jump in and be CSU fans, but they want to see it first. They want to see their first game being a success. And so we’re really hoping that comes on Saturday.”

From a business standpoint, a win makes all the difference. People come out more, and the more people come out, the more Nate Haas and his team can do to support CSU. Their beat-the-clock specials and pizza provided in events like football games and even summer camps are motivated by a love for CSU and fond memories of CSU football. 

“It might be dramatic to call them a pillar of Fort Collins, but they are just so well known in this town,” Forte said. “They’ve been working closely with CSU Athletics in particular for a while. And so when we were trying to evaluate where our alumni would want to watch the game, Krazy Karl’s was truly first on our list.”

Reach Ivy Secrest at life@collegian.com or on Twitter @IvySecrest.