Eagles tame the bear, kinda… 

Granite Bay High School and Del Oro High School are known for being bitter rivals.  This year both teams have a winning record and played each other on Sep. 30.  DOHS won the game 21-10, but before the game they vandalized the bear in front of GBHS. 

In years past DOHS has vandalized the bear in front of GBHS in some sort of way.  One year they put silly string all over the bear and, in another, they put DOHS logo cups on the bear.

But this isn’t just a one-time thing. For the past two years DOHS has vandalized the bear in front of the school before the game when we play against each other.

This year they have done it yet again. Last Thursday night, some of the DOHS students put their school-colored balloons, cones and saran wrap all over the bear. 

“They’re damaging our school property, so I think they definitely should be punished because of that,” Jackson Tate, a junior, said.

The vandalizing of the bear is not meant to be seen as a hate crime; it is more a funny tradition that DOHS does every year.  It also adds to the rivalry since it can get the players and students more involved with the game.

“We have a rivalry going so it’s kind of funny; it’s like a tradition,” Ryan Kim, junior, said.

The GBHS vs. DOHS rivalry has a long history.  Both of the schools are close to each other, and both place stereotypes on each other.

This just adds to the rivalry even more which leads to DOHS vandalizing the bear, thus making this vandalism a tradition.  DOHS wants to poke the bear to feel like they have an edge on us before the game when we play each other. 

When GBHS and DOHS are scheduled to play each other it’s always an important game, but the only thing that is on the line is bragging rights.  The rivalry is at a 13-14 record with Del Oro beating Granite Bay in wins.

“I disliked what they did because we take pride in our school as Grizzlies and that is not the level we want to stoop to,” David Minor, lineman for GBHS’s football team, said.