Colby Bates Bowdoin Consortium

Bates - Bowdoin Rivalry

From its inception, Bates College served as an alternative to a more traditional and historically conservative Bowdoin College. There is a long tradition of rivalry and competitiveness between the two colleges, revolving around socioeconomic class, academic quality, and collegiate athletics. Many alumni of Bowdoin subsequently went on to develop Bates during the 1860s and alumni of Bates lectured at Bowdoin. Bates and Bowdoin have competed against each other athletically since the 1870s, and subsequently share one of the ten oldest NCAA Division III football rivalries, in the United States.

Development of rivalry

The rivalry between the two colleges has grown out of academics and social standing, moving to athletics. Traditions have grown out this rivalry in their respective athletic programs. Originally started by the debate team of Bates College, the football team has participated in wrapping the college's academic scarf around Bowdoin's polar bear, in "an assertion of who's who." There have been multiple instances of students soaking the scarf in gasoline and igniting it charring the statues neck after a big football win. Bowdoin responded by wrapping their black and white scarf around Bates' statue of a bobcat.

The taunts between the fan bases have grown and adapted in the modern era of the rivalry. The unison chant of "Blowdoin" is ubiquitous at games between the rivals. Athletic games are commonly accompanied with taunts and chants from both sides of the field. Historically, Bowdoin has focused on faulting Bates for accepting women and African Americans to their school chanting remarks revolving around racism and sexism, where Bates counter-chanted noting Bowdoin's elitism and racism. Both schools' fans are heard often exchanging the taunt of "safety school", and commenting on their respective college's issues regarding white privilege, cost of tuition, sexual assault, and social elitism. Both schools follow a narrative when chanting at football games, Bowdoin focuses on disparaging Bates for perceived lower academic standards and low endowment contrasted with expensive tuition, traditionally chanting "Ivy-rejects", "dirty Lews [in reference to the low economic development of Lewiston]", and "all that money and no [shot, touchdown etc.]."

Bates follows an anti-Bowdoin narrative that includes a perceived inferiority to Harvard University, historical ties to slavery, sexual assault, and drug use, often chanting, "Blowdoin", "Harvard-reject," "plantation boys", and "bow down Bowdoin [asserting moral superiority]."

The Bates-Bowdoin Game is the most attended football game every academic year at both colleges. As of 2013, both college's presidents are named Clayton (Spencer and Rose), leading students to include them in chants against each other.

Bowdoin developed a "football fight song" entitled, "Forward the White" in 1913. All football games between the two occurred on Bowdoin's Whittier Field, but with the development of Bates' Garcelon Field, both fields have been used to hold football games.

Colby joins the championship

Colby remained isolated from neighboring Bates, and BowdoinColby-Bates-Bowdoin Consotrium due to relative location in Waterville, and socio-economic and political differences. However, in the 1940s, Colby began competing with the two colleges and in the first game, had a three way tie. In 1988, Bates president Reynolds began the Chase Regatta in 1988, which features the President's Cup that is contested by Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin annually.

The CBB Championship game is a college football competition between the three colleges. Each team plays the others once, with the CBB Championship awarded to the college that beats the other two. The CBB Championship was created for the 1965 college football season. Previously, Bates and Bowdoin have competed since 1870s against the University of Maine in the Maine State Series or Maine State Championship. When the University of Maine moved to a higher division in 1965, Colby joined and the rivalry took its current name.

Pranks

The three colleges of the consortium often play elaborate pranks on each other, that have on occasion been supported by their respective administrations. In 1934, Bowdoin students snuck into Alumni Gymnasium and stole a stuffed bobcat, relocating it and stapling it to Presidents' House, outfitted in Bowdoin regalia. On numerous occasions Bates and Bowdoin student vandalize each other's mascot statues. In 2001, Bates alumni and students replaced every flag on Bowdoin's campus with a Bates banner, and locked the draw string. One year later, Colby students traveled to Bates and connected a speaker to Hathorn Hall's bell tower and played Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up on a continuous loop, and blockaded the towers entrance. The bell tower amplified the music and played the song continuously from 4AM until the batteries ran out around 2PM. In 2015, undisclosed participants (allegedly Bowdoin), hacked into the wifi servers of Bates and displayed a mock Facebook homepage, making fun of the college. The site was live for ten hours before reverting to the normal homepage.

Chase Regatta

The Chase Regatta is an annual rowing race between the men's and women's heavyweight varsity and club rowing crews of Bates College, Bowdoin College, and Colby College. The colleges have competed in the regatta since August 3, 1988 but have competed annually since August 3, 1997, when Bates President Thomas Hedley Reynolds instated the President's Cup to be contested by all three of the CBB schools. The President's Cup is given to the team that has won the most overall heats and races, while the overall winner is determined by who won the most varsity and heavyweight competitions in the regatta. Results from the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Chase Regatta (President's Cup: 1997-2016).

Academic scarves

All three of the schools share the British and New England tradition of academic scarves.

Football championship results

Note: Bowdoin leads overall with 16 wins, followed by Colby with 14 wins, followed by Bates with 13 wins. The highest scoring game was the 1987 Colby-Bates game with a total of 74 points. The lowest scoring game was the 1967 Bowdion-Colby game with a total of 7 points. The biggest shutout was Bates' 51-0 game against Colby in 1985. The longest consecutive streak of games won is Colby with 5 championships in a row (1988-1992). Bates has won 27 games against Bowdoin while Bowdoin has won 26 games against Bates. Colby has won 28 games against Bates while Bates has won 24 games against Colby. Bowdoin has won 31 games against Colby while Colby has won 20 games against Bowdoin. There have been 7 three-way-ties, 1 two-way tie, and 4 uses of overtime, (the 2006 Colby-Bates game required overtime to be issued four times for a winner to be determined).

Other competitions

Bates, Bowdoin and Colby have competed in the football rivalry since the 1880s but have expanded the rivalry to include all athletics the three schools are involved in. Bowdoin leads the consortium with national titles (30), followed by Bates (16), followed by Coby (9).

Note: The chart showcases the school's win/loss totals in games in which they have exclusively played each other, and NESCAC Titles. If the total of wins surpasses the victories of the other school the designation of "won" is placed in the respective box, showcasing which schools has won the most games in their respective sports.