I stare into the mirror, bobby pins sticking out of my mouth as I try to tie a big red ribbon around my ponytail. I don as much red and black as possible without looking too ridiculous. But I hesitate. After all, the whole point of dressing up in school colors is to be ostentatious and flashy. It’s Gunn vs. Paly day, and it’s time to get out there and proudly show some spirit.

Everyone knows that Gunn’s cross-town rival is Palo Alto High School (Paly). While Paly might have a reputation for having a distinguished athletic program, Gunn is in no way lagging behind. Sure, Paly’s football team can crush ours 49-0, but we’ve been able to match them in other sports. Just recently, Gunn’s boys’ varsity tennis defeated Paly in the finals of the California Boys High School Tennis Championships.

This doesn’t even mention our immense school spirit. After the recent incident, in which students created a fake Facebook account in an attempt to throw off the game of one of Paly’s basketball players and wore T-shirts that read ‘Puck Faly,’ who can argue that we’re not behind our teams 100 percent of the way? Granted, pulling on our rival basketball star’s heartstrings isn’t the fairest way to score more points. However, I would rather have the Titans take action than be a basketball team playing with empty bleachers and zero supporters.

The secret ingredient in the burning fuel that energizes us to become competitive is all in our minds. In reality, however, most of us have Paly friends and are acquainted with many Paly students.

In our minds, matching green uniforms immediately sends off signals that say, “Incoming Paly kids, watch out!” Sometimes, it’s natural to say “Paly sucks” or “Gunn is better than Paly at everything.” The point is, our rivalry with Paly simply exists because it has become a tradition. However, Paly isn’t our only rival. I define a rival as a school who has a reputation for having a strong performance in a particular area. It always feels great to win against an equally-talented opponent.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. Winning is wonderful, but it is the feeling of thrill and achievement that comes with it. Dominating against another school shows off our superior skills. It just becomes a game of winning point after point, and it’s definitely not a game where players can put forth their best skills. Eventually, the other team is losing so badly that you can’t help but feel sorry for them. That’s when you start going easy on them, letting them get away with some points just to boost their confidence. There is no intensity in these kinds of games, no seat-gripping-mind-grabbing play by plays.

Rivalries are reasons for everyone in the student body to participate in an event together. Half of the time during school sports matches, I have no idea how the sport is played or what’s going on, and I’m constantly turning to my friends with questions about the scoring. But I don’t mind, because you get a kick out of sitting in the bleachers with the crowd and cheering on our home team. It just takes a little bit of school color and a loud cheering voice.