It's not really school pride in my instance, though I imagine it is for some people. For me, it's more about the taunting that goes on between the schools. The pranks are fun to hear about to, but making fun of the other school is what's really fun.
For instance, today, I walked into my English class, which is at IF. I'm wearing solid blue. The entire rest of the class is wearing orange and black. As I walk in, they all boo, at which point, I begin to laugh. We went through most of class (while we were supposed to be watching King Lear) going back and forth about who was going to win the game. We're not really that serious about it. I could care less about who wins the game. I don't watch football normally, and I don't really enjoy it when I do. However, Emotion Bowl I enjoy because everyone around me is so insanely energetic, it's impossible not to be. The only reason it matters to me about who wins the game is because next Monday, when I get back, whichever side won gets to fling all the insults we were flinging around today into the other side's face, and the other side just has to sit there and take it. It's actually not that bad to be on the receiving end either. It's just fun to insult each other.
So really, I think a lot of what is labeled as school pride isn't. Most of the people I know don't really care how many times Skyline has won the Emotion Bowl, or even how good of a school it is academically. We just care that we win now so that we can brag later.
That said, there have been some really great Emotion Bowl games in the past. The insane hype tends to push both teams to play really well. I remember 2004 in particular. We were down by 5 points, and with 1 second left in the game, the quarterback threw a 48-yard Hail Mary pass. The guy who it was supposed to go to had 3 guys trying to block him or intercept the ball within five feet of him, and he still caught it (though he broke his arm doing so). Probably the coolest moment of the entire game was when the quarterback actually threw the ball. The entire stadium went dead silent for about 3 seconds, then when the guy caught it, it was like this amazingly gigantic explosion of sound everywhere. It was also pretty awesome to look over at the IF stands, where they'd been preparing to rush the field to repaint the goal posts. They were all just kind of standing there, looking like they'd been pole-axed. Thinking back, I really can't blame them, considering pretty much everyone there thought that they had it in the bag.
But Emotion Bowl can be very exciting, even if you don't care at all about your school. And when you throw in the insults.... it's just fun all around.