Quote:
Originally Posted by lovespink88
This post made me realize that I was speaking in very broad terms and should clarify.
People who root for a school that is not their own doesn't necessarily bug me, depending on how far it goes. I am okay with people casually cheering for a team. For example, I cheered for Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl last year; my uncle went there, they're a Big Ten team, etc, etc, yay, go Badgers.
What I am NOT okay with, is someone who has no connection to a team and is ALL. ABOUT. THAT TEAM. A co-worker is like this with Ohio State. He went to college in Indiana and has no other ties to Ohio State except that he lived there. WTF?! Another example is I have a friend who is a BIG fan of both Alabama and Florida even though she went to Illinois. Her only logic is that she lived on both states for a little bit when growing up. Again, wtf!
Yes, it can be made, but I don't agree with it  (As I mentioned before, I know it makes me sound snobby. I've accepted it.  )
See, I guess I just don't get the whole "becoming fans before you go to college thing", but maybe I'm a special case because I grew up in a big city with professional sports teams. I really didn't have any friends growing up who supported a college team before they went away to school. We didn't need the cheer for the Illini football (partly because there's not much to cheer about) because we had the Bears. We didn't need to cheer for Illini basketball because we had the Bulls (the 90s Bulls, nonetheless!!!) So maybe my perception is a bit warped and it's more normal than I realize for people to be big fans of their local college.
I still don't like it |
That's just it. You grew up in an area with a glut of professional teams. In the South, especially, college sports are MUCH bigger than pro sports. Don't get me wrong, I love the Saints, but for the majority of my formative years, I couldn't even watch any games on TV because Baton Rouge fell into the black out zone when the Super Dome didn't sell out. Cheering for the local college sports team is part of the culture. You might not understand it, but it is what it is.
ETA: I was just watching LSU football as a kid. I got to see Shaq play many times in person at the PMAC when I was in HS. My whole family follows LSU baseball as they've won their College World Series Titles, and I'll be on Omaha next time they make it to the tournament since I live out west. Being an LSU fan is part of being Louisianian.
Hybrid Mode
