"Stomp the Bus" is the name given to the entrance video played before every

Arizona State Sun Devils football The Arizona State Sun Devils football team represents Arizona State University (ASU) in the sport of American college football. The Sun Devils team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( ...

game at

Sun Devil Stadium Mountain America Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in Tempe, Arizona, located on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU). It is the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils football team of the Big 12 Conference. The stadium o ...

. It was created in 2004 as a way to increase supporter participation and features a giant personification of

Sparky the Sun Devil Sparky the Sun Devil is the official mascot of Arizona State University. Originally the ASU athletic teams' mascot was an owl, then became a "Tempe Normal School, Normal" (because ASU was founded as a normal school). It was later changed to a bul ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

's mascot, crushing the bus of the opposing team underfoot.

Video

Original video

The original video starts with a solar flare from the Sun that launches towards Earth and lands in Arizona. A giant Sparky emerges from that flare. Sparky then walks across Arizona, passing known state landmarks such as the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

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 A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

into the field.

Updated video

The updated intro video from 2013 is still in use as of 2023. The video starts out the same as the original one; a solar flare from the sun launches toward Earth and lands in the middle of Arizona. As a result of the flare, the Palo Verde Generating Station malfunctions, and the power goes out. It then cuts to the location of the flare where a giant Sparky emerges from it. With his trident, Sparky creates a

haboob A haboob () is a type of intense dust storm carried by the wind of a weather front or thunderstorm. Haboobs occur regularly in arid, dry land area regions throughout the world, including off-Earth, and can be dangerous. Formation and charac ...

and starts walking. He walks around the

Phoenix Metro area The Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, metro Phoenix, or The Valley, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the Southwestern United States, with its largest principal city being the ...

with the haboob following him. He passes through

Downtown Phoenix Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County, Arizona, ...

and walks over the traffic on the highway. Sparky then crosses

Tempe Town Lake Tempe Town Lake is an artificial perennial reservoir located just north of Tempe Butte at the confluence of the intermittent Salt River (Arizona), Salt River and the ephemeral Indian Bend Wash Area, Indian Bend Wash in Tempe, Arizona, United State ...

via the Mill Avenue bridges and walks around the Hayden Flour Mill. Sparky stomps the bus before stepping into the stadium and spiking his

into the field.

History

The original "Stomp the Bus" video was created in 2004 by True Story Films. 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. 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. The playing of "Stomp the Bus" returned to Sun Devil Stadium the season after. The updated "Stomp the Bus" was well received and was the joint winner of the 2013

Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards The Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards are a division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Rocky Mountain Southwest chapter was founded in 1959, and is responsible for granting the Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards, awarding scholarships, ...

for Best Editor – Short Form (Promos, PSAs, Commercials, Opens, etc.). 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.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The "Stomp the Bus" film
Arizona State University Films set in Arizona Films shot in Arizona Films about giants 2004 films Arizona State Sun Devils football