Listening to sports talk radio is my daily routine as I drive to work each day. Today I heard something truly disturbing. A Michigan fan had called in and said that he was rooting for Ohio State to win against Florida. He almost sounded sad they had lost. Wait…don’t the two hate each other with a passion? Hearing that didn’t cause me to have seizure and crash my car but it got me thinking. His reasoning was he was rooting for the conference to win. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Since I’ve been a sports fan, I have never followed that theory.
Ohio State and Michigan are one of the greatest rivalries in college football. Rivialry usually means you cannot stand the other team. You have funny jokes about them. You could lose all your games that season but as long as you beat your main rival, the fans are happy. If I talked to a fan of either team, they could go on and on about how stupid everything is about the other school down to their colors.
So then I do not understand how a Michigan fan can go rah-rah for Ohio State in a national championship game?? I would not want the team I hate the most to have bragging rights over my school when counting national championships. No matter if they’re in the same conference. I don’t want to see the stupid t-shirts. I don’t want to be reminded of it constantly the following season.
For example, I am a Florida Gator fan and not by bandwagon either. I consider our big rivals as Georgia first and Florida State right behind. To some, those really could be interchangable. If either one were playing in the championship game, I’m cheering like I’m seeing two hot girls mud wrestling in jello for them to lose and lose badly. If it’s Georgia, forget keeping the championship in the conference. Making it to the championship game says enough about the conference already. No need to win one more game. I’ve been around Bulldog fans enough to know how obnoxious they are. I do not want bragging come from those tobacco chewing lips, brother and sister kissing lips.
If I want to have the championship stay in the conference and if the Gators don’t do it, I don’t mind if it’s South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt, or even a ugly Tennesee team win. They don’t make my blood boil as much. I wouldn’t root for them to win though. I’m not one of those “Do it for the conference!” folks even if it’s a non-rival. In that case, I’m a fan of whoever I have my money on. That’s how I decide.
Keeping the championship in the conference is a great thing if it’s your team. Don’t have satisfaction to see your most hated rival have all the glory. Don’t root for them. You might as well just switch teams cause you’d be considered a traitor. If anything, you can take some solace in poking fun at the fact that they didn’t win.
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As a die hard Mavs fan, I would never want anything good to happen to Tim, Manu, or Tony.
Maybe it’s because the teams I root for come from the Mountain West Conference (which seek respect every year) but I’m one of those who root for teams I don’t even remotely like (TCU, Colorado St., Air Force etc.) to win games, especially against non-conference opponents. For teams like BYU and Utah (the teams I root for) to get any love in the polls and bowl games, they need teams like TCU to be successful. The only way my teams are going to ever get respect is if year in and year out top teams in the conference beat non-conference opponents. If that means rooting for a TCU in a bowl game or otherwise–so be it. Power conferences don’t have this worry so I’d probably feel different if I was a Buckeye fan or a Gator fan.
Yeah, I agree with the Armchair QB. I’ll never root for WSU or Oregon, but say USC was in the championship game, I’d probably then pull for the Pac-10. Rival or hated team, hell no, but a neutral conference team, then maybe.
As a Michigan fan, I was one of those people who said he’d root for Ohio State. (Though before Florida was selected for the BCS title game, I think many people would’ve said that didn’t make me a true Michigan fan.)
And I don’t think it was so much rooting for Ohio St. as it was rooting against Florida, because they received the bid Michigan fans believed was rightly theirs.
I don’t know how other Michigan fans reacted on Monday night, but the minute Florida tied the game, I realized who I was really rooting for. And I couldn’t turn the channel on that ass-kicking.
So what am I trying to say? You’re right.
Zach, I agree with you. Neutral conference team I’m okay if they win. Just not a rival or hated team.
Ian, I understand why you were rooting against UF. As a Michigan fan, you were pissed.
But glad you were on the UF side for that ass kicking.
You listened to talk radio? I’m sorry!
But seriously, I could never be persuaded to root for the GB Packers or Chicago White Sox if the game mattered to them… only circumstance I would hope they would win was if it helped my team and it didn’t help them.
You are an IDIOT! I have always hated the Gaylosers, and I always will. Bulldog fans are classy people. You and your asshole Gayturds ARE THE MOST OBNOXIOUS LOSERS on the planet. I like every other team in the SEC except your shitty school. I would rather have a good team with classy fans(My DAWGS) rather than a good team with loser fans with no class like you Gaytwats. You and your fans walk around with your nose up in the air, and you think that your shit doesn’t stink. Who made you people God? There are plenty of uneducated redneck country bumpkins in Florida so look at your own kind, and besides that Florida drivers are the worst on the planet, and Florida people are the stupidest on the planet. So F*** OFF LOSER!
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