Now, I can imagine that some of you might be feeling like a psychotic, crazed college football fan has taken over my blog as of late... the truth is, this time of year (and sort of, the entire college football season), one could argue that I become a psychotic, crazed college football fan (I would never argue that, I would argue that I am completely normal... but someone else might disagree).
That being said, please bear with me and prepare for -- ANOTHER -- blog post related to college football.
Today's post, I would like to dedicate to TRIED AND TRUE FANS!
Now, I will define tried and true college football fans...
You are a tried and true college football fan if you CHEER FOR YOUR CONFERENCE DURING BOWL SEASON!!!!!
I'm sorry, you didn't hear me? I'll say it another way.
I appreciate better than anyone the internal and external conference rivalries that exist in the college football world (HELLO, the Michigan v. Ohio State football rivalry was voted the #1 rivalry in ALL OF SPORTS). In addition, Michigan has very heated and prideful games against Notre Dame and Michigan State each year. That being said, when the regular season ends and conference competition ends, my beef with Ohio State and Michigan State ends (my dislike of Notre Dame, on the other hand is stronger than ever) and this is for one reason only: Conference Loyalty!
Tried and True Fans exhibit conference loyalty because the better your conference looks, the better YOUR team looks.
Tried and True fans exhibit conference loyalty because all of the money received from every team in your conference is divided between all of the schools in your conferences. The better your conference rivals do in their post-season game, the more money YOUR school receives.
The BIG TEN prides itself on conference sportsmanship, and the perfect time for the fans to demonstrate this is during post-season Bowl Games. The conference play is over, the chips have fallen where they will -- AND
THE BETTER THE BIG 10 PLAYS THE BETTER YOUR SCHOOL LOOKS!
THE MORE BOWLS THE BIG 10 WINS, THE MORE MONEY YOUR SCHOOL RECEIVES!
THE BETTER YOUR CONFERENCE RIVALS PLAY, THE BETTER YOUR SCHOOL MEASURES UP ON THE NATIONAL STAGE!
I don't really think I can spell this out more clearly. There is NO down-side to your conference... ANY TEAM IN YOUR CONFERENCE playing well and winning in the post-season!
Big 10 Schools (of which there are 12 - don't ask),
Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
I enjoy cheering for each and every one of you during the post-season.
To the 11 schools that are not Michigan, I enjoy cheering against you when Michigan plays you during conference play, but we are a family. I want Michigan to beat you, but I don't want a team from any other conference to beat you.
Trust me, I enjoy disliking Michigan State and ESPECIALLY Ohio State as much as the next guy, but I want them to win post-season games because when they do, Michigan (and the entire Big 10) looks better.
My final point, when a college fan cannot look beyond his own hatred for a rival school's football team, he is an immature, selfish kid -- and certainly NOT a fan of the football team he follows! It is immature to cut off your nose to spite your face and that is precisely what these fans are doing by cheering against their own conference. A fan is someone who sticks with his team through thick and thin and always wants what is in the team's best interest. A fan does not cheer against the conference for the simple reason, when Big 10 teams lose, the Big 10 conference looks worse, hence his team looks worse for being in the Big 10 conference.
I used to be an immature Michigan supporter -- I wanted Ohio State to lose no matter who they played. I've since grown up and seen the benefit of Ohio State playing well on the National Stage against other conferences. In fact, I get upset with Ohio State when they don't win in the post-season. I cheer for them SO FEW games each year, that they had BETTER WIN when I cheer for them. Now, I realize that Michigan looks much better when Ohio State beats out-of-conference teams. That, my friends is called maturity, but more than that, it is called A FAN.
To call yourself a FAN of your football team, you MUST be a FAN of the Conference. These points are mutually exclusive. If you're not a fan of the conference, then you're NOT a fan of your school.
Here's to the TRIED AND TRUE FANS out there!
Here's to the BIG 10 -- ALL TEAMS IN THE BIG 10!
To the immature football supporters out there without noses, hopefully next year, you'll join the FANS of the BIG 10.
That being said, please bear with me and prepare for -- ANOTHER -- blog post related to college football.
Today's post, I would like to dedicate to TRIED AND TRUE FANS!
Now, I will define tried and true college football fans...
You are a tried and true college football fan if you CHEER FOR YOUR CONFERENCE DURING BOWL SEASON!!!!!
I'm sorry, you didn't hear me? I'll say it another way.
I appreciate better than anyone the internal and external conference rivalries that exist in the college football world (HELLO, the Michigan v. Ohio State football rivalry was voted the #1 rivalry in ALL OF SPORTS). In addition, Michigan has very heated and prideful games against Notre Dame and Michigan State each year. That being said, when the regular season ends and conference competition ends, my beef with Ohio State and Michigan State ends (my dislike of Notre Dame, on the other hand is stronger than ever) and this is for one reason only: Conference Loyalty!
Tried and True Fans exhibit conference loyalty because the better your conference looks, the better YOUR team looks.
Tried and True fans exhibit conference loyalty because all of the money received from every team in your conference is divided between all of the schools in your conferences. The better your conference rivals do in their post-season game, the more money YOUR school receives.
The BIG TEN prides itself on conference sportsmanship, and the perfect time for the fans to demonstrate this is during post-season Bowl Games. The conference play is over, the chips have fallen where they will -- AND
THE BETTER THE BIG 10 PLAYS THE BETTER YOUR SCHOOL LOOKS!
THE MORE BOWLS THE BIG 10 WINS, THE MORE MONEY YOUR SCHOOL RECEIVES!
THE BETTER YOUR CONFERENCE RIVALS PLAY, THE BETTER YOUR SCHOOL MEASURES UP ON THE NATIONAL STAGE!
I don't really think I can spell this out more clearly. There is NO down-side to your conference... ANY TEAM IN YOUR CONFERENCE playing well and winning in the post-season!
Big 10 Schools (of which there are 12 - don't ask),
Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
I enjoy cheering for each and every one of you during the post-season.
To the 11 schools that are not Michigan, I enjoy cheering against you when Michigan plays you during conference play, but we are a family. I want Michigan to beat you, but I don't want a team from any other conference to beat you.
Trust me, I enjoy disliking Michigan State and ESPECIALLY Ohio State as much as the next guy, but I want them to win post-season games because when they do, Michigan (and the entire Big 10) looks better.
My final point, when a college fan cannot look beyond his own hatred for a rival school's football team, he is an immature, selfish kid -- and certainly NOT a fan of the football team he follows! It is immature to cut off your nose to spite your face and that is precisely what these fans are doing by cheering against their own conference. A fan is someone who sticks with his team through thick and thin and always wants what is in the team's best interest. A fan does not cheer against the conference for the simple reason, when Big 10 teams lose, the Big 10 conference looks worse, hence his team looks worse for being in the Big 10 conference.
I used to be an immature Michigan supporter -- I wanted Ohio State to lose no matter who they played. I've since grown up and seen the benefit of Ohio State playing well on the National Stage against other conferences. In fact, I get upset with Ohio State when they don't win in the post-season. I cheer for them SO FEW games each year, that they had BETTER WIN when I cheer for them. Now, I realize that Michigan looks much better when Ohio State beats out-of-conference teams. That, my friends is called maturity, but more than that, it is called A FAN.
To call yourself a FAN of your football team, you MUST be a FAN of the Conference. These points are mutually exclusive. If you're not a fan of the conference, then you're NOT a fan of your school.
Here's to the TRIED AND TRUE FANS out there!
Here's to the BIG 10 -- ALL TEAMS IN THE BIG 10!
To the immature football supporters out there without noses, hopefully next year, you'll join the FANS of the BIG 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by and joining the conversation.