Today I realized how horrible the sportsmanship of the University of Colorado student body is and how bad of a representation and name it puts on the university.

This year, I traveled with a few of my friends to Lincoln, Neb., for the CU-NU game, wearing bright gold colors in a sea of red -- and expecting to be harassed and heckled left and right.

To my surprise, we didn't receive a negative comment all day. The first thing we heard from a Nebraska fan was, "How do you like the weather?" The other comments we heard were "good luck" and "welcome to Lincoln" and "enjoy the game."

This was not from stadium staff or university personnel, but from diehard, life-long Nebraska fans, including students.

During the game, the other spectators that we were sitting with were talking about the game and how good the players were and things like that. There were no negative comments about the plays or the refs or the skill or abilities of the CU players.

After the Buffs lost a very close game, the Nebraska fans still were not heckling or bragging or taunting us in any way. We kept having random people approach us and say what a great game it was and how we played so hard and only had positive comments.

We went out to dinner, and when the restaurant was full, some NU fans offered to let us join them at their table. We talked with them and had a great time.

This is when I started to realize how horrible of fans we are at CU.

One of the guys at the table told us of when he came to the CU-NU game at Folsom Field in 2001. For those who don't know or remember, this was when CU won 62-36.

So after the loss, these guys were walking out of the stadium and had a cup full of urine thrown on them. This disgusted me, because I know how that would feel and how I would react to something like that. This guy and his friends said that they would never return to Boulder because of that incident -- and I would feel the same.

When you watch or listen to CU football games, the fans are always booing the other team and at times even booing our own team. That is bad, but not the worst.

The bad parts are when the fans harass and heckle the opposing team's fans outside of the stadium.

We throw objects on the field at our own team. We curse and swear and threaten the players and the refs. We get in fights and make the opposing team's fans not want to come back.

The problem with this is that I see no way to fix it. One of the bigger problems is that the majority of the fans, students and otherwise "pre-game," and are more than drunk before even showing up to the game.

Then they sneak in alcohol taped to their inner thighs and under clothes or whatever places they can think of to hide their booze -- just adding to the obnoxiousness of the fans.

Something needs to be done. I am sick and disgusted of the way we act, and wish there was a way to change it. I will admit I have done some things and said some things that are not great, but I know that I need to change them now.

I just hope that somehow the university takes action on this matter in the future and changes the way that CU is viewed in the eye of other universities and the public.

Scott Tatum is a senior at the University of Colorado.