BCS Championship Game--ROLL TIDE

[Ogre]

@Sauron

Ogre, those posts were wonderful. Because I’m a Southerner, and therefore incapable of understanding or properly executing a polite golf clap, please allow me to recognize your brilliance with an understated and tasteful “YEEEEHAWWWW!”

Thanks, ol’ buddy. You know what I’m talking about.

[Ogre]

From a Youtube thread:

No offense, but outside of the hicks from bama, and the hayseeds from lsu, who in the sec is doing anything?

Oh, none taken! See you next year!

[Gatopescado]

@Alex_from_CB

Manti Teo, had the same view of most of the Bamer touchdowns as Michelangelo had of the Sistine Chapel for 20 years.

He’s been renamed Boyti Teo. He needs to ship any and all trophies he received this year to Jadeveon Clowney, at South Carolina who was clearly the best defensive player in the country.

With all the talk about McCarron’s girl friend what about his mother?
Milf city. (In red, below)

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/674/604/aj-mccarron-mom_original.jpg?1357582561
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/674/607/aj-mccarron-mom-boobs-lead1_original.jpg?1357582660

Da Faq?

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Slow_Moving_Vehicle

True dat. I was very, very happy to see Florida get humiliated in the Sugar Bowl. I’ll root for The University of Al-Qaeda Fighting Pedophiles over Florida.

You are obviously a person of sterling character and judgement, with excellent taste and a knack for understanding where best to place your loyalties. You are welcome at any FSU gathering or game-watching, anywhere, anytime;; just tell them I said you were cool, do the tomahawk chop and the chant, and they’ll make you feel right at home.

[fumster]

@Ogre

No, it’s mutated quite a bit by this point. Southern football has been completely, enthusiastically integrated by now. That by itself would be enough to falsify your Civil War idea. By now, it’s more of a reaction to the generalized condescension poured upon the South by outsiders. It’s still PC to make fun of rednecks and country folk. The first thing I heard when I moved to DC a few years ago was, “Gosh, you actually grew up in Alabama? I’ve never met anybody who grew up in Alabama! Where’s your accent? Did you go to college?” :rolleyes:

You know what? We don’t like that. Just, you know, FYI.

Just in case you want to know, the North is not nearly as obsessed with the South as the South is obsessed with thinking the North is obsessed with the South. If y’all would just stop sending so many morons to Congress we wouldn’t need to think about you much at all.

[Ogre]

@fumster

Just in case you want to know, the North is not nearly as obsessed with the South as the South is obsessed with thinking the North is obsessed with the South. If y’all would just stop sending so many morons to Congress we wouldn’t need to think about you much at all.

…until an SEC team beats the bejeezus out of some northern team, and then just watch the “ignorant hicks!” sour-grapes comments fly.

Part of it, of course, is the spirit of rebellion. Not Rebellion, but rebellion. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say that it’s somehow unacceptable for us to root for someone who is not, strictly speaking, our own home team. It bewilders and confuses those who don’t understand the factors I talked about upthread.

Here’s a secret: we like that. We enjoy your bewilderment. It’s refreshing. The nature of our fandom is our own. You can’t have it, and you can’t dictate it.

In short, and I do not mean this as a personal insult, but every time I hear someone make fun of us, as SEC fans, for cheering for a team we would normally loathe, there’s a small, resentful part of me that silently answers, “Because fuck you, that’s why.”

As for the political part of your rant, uh, I thought we were talking about football here.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Slow_Moving_Vehicle

I’ll root for The University of Al-Qaeda Fighting Pedophiles over Florida.

Unfortunately, Penn State is not bowl eligible.

[zamboniracer]

@Human_Action

It should be noted that while all conferences shift over time, and are money-driven (as are all aspects of college football and basketball), the SEC represents a distinct area of the country. It doesn’t have geographical absurdities like West Virginia being in the Big 12 or South Florida in the Big East. All the teams are in the Southeast. This helps give it more of a real identity.

Neither College Station, TX nor Columbia MO are “in the Southeast”. The SEC is as expansive and money driven as any other college sports conference.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

What’s absurd about South Florida being in the Big East?

[Human_Action]

@zamboniracer

Neither College Station, TX nor Columbia MO are “in the Southeast”. The SEC is as expansive and money driven as any other college sports conference.

They were added in 2012, well after the SEC’s culture was in place. As Texas (and surely Missouri, I assume) has its own distinct non-Southern culture, the additions of A&M and Missouri may well diminish the conference pride we have today. Time will tell. At the very least, there’s a geographical coherence that’s been preserved.

@Really Not All That Bright

What’s absurd about South Florida being in the Big East?

The Big East.

The Big 12.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like my conferences to be geographically close-knit, preferably aligning with a distinct region of the country.

[Marley23]

@Human_Action

At the very least, there’s a geographical coherence that’s been preserved.

Not anymore, no. And it’ll probably be even less true after the conference expands again.

[Human_Action]

@Marley23

Not anymore, no.

Relative to other conferences, there is. Of the 11 SEC states, 10 border two other SEC states (South Carolina being the exception, and it borders one).

@Marley23

And it’ll probably be even less true after the conference expands again.

Possibly, depends on who gets added.

[Oakminster]

@Ogre

Did you…did you just compare conference pride to secessionism? Really? Stop this, Marley. You’re better than this.

The only reason you haven’t heard about it until recently is because you haven’t been listening. SEC pride is very, very real, and it predates your time frame by a long way. I’m 41 years old, and when I was growing up, my father, a staunch football fan, used to tell me that he rooted for any SEC team over any out-of-conference team every time. This was in the 1970’s, and the idea was not new then either, nor was it isolated in my family. Everyone I knew talked like this. The only possible exceptions were in-state rivals (Auburn in our case) and Tenne-goddamn-see. And EVEN THEN, the strictures would be relaxed more often than not, depending on recent history.

It began a long, long time ago. It began, arguably, when Alabama faced the biggest, baddest team in the nation, Washington, in the 1926 Rose Bowl. This was a chance to strike back at Reconstruction, against H.L. Mencken writing articles in Boston about the small cranial capacity of the average Southerner. Against all the contempt that had been piled upon Southerners’ heads by the national media. Alabama literally carried the honor of the entire South with them to Pasadena. It was specifically pitched that way to the players and the rest of the region, and supporters from all over the South flocked to the Alabama football team like mad.

And Alabama WON. After the game, during the train ride home, the team was stopped in virtually every town in the South by huge, jubilant crowds.

Look, you may pooh-pooh that game and the Southern reaction to that game as ancient, irrelevant history, but if you do, be aware that this is why Southerners say that you don’t understand what football means down here.

Every year, to this day, I hear the story of the 1926 Rose Bowl. It’s told in barber shops, restaurants, and football games every single year, and it always will be. That game changed the South. You may laugh at that, but it’s true nonetheless, and its memory fuels the cultural impact of college football throughout the entire region to the present day.

And as long as Southerners hear about how backward the South is, about how we’re ignorant rednecks, about how, when you hear our accents, you can’t help but think we’re dumb, about how we’re poor and recidivist and bible-beating red-staters, and how could anybody live there because it’s so primitive and hot anyway, it’s going to make us mad. That goes for liberals and conservatives, white and black, rich and poor.

And we’re going to strike back, at least partially, through football.

Until you understand that, you should never, ever pretend to understand what football means to the South.

And if all that amuses you, or makes you think even worse about us, congratulations. You’ve just fueled the fire even more. We’re past begging for approval. Now we just want to beat you. And we will.

Well said, Ogre.

[Marley23]

@Human_Action

Relative to other conferences, there is.

Until this point you hadn’t mentioned the fact that your praise was relative. You just said the SEC was geographically logical, which it isn’t.

@Ogre

Did you…did you just compare conference pride to secessionism?

No, I didn’t. But ironically in arguing against that perceived offense you’re about to invoke the same kind of regional pride that always comes up in these discussions.

And if all that amuses you, or makes you think even worse about us, congratulations. You’ve just fueled the fire even more.

I don’t care. My entire point is that rooting for a conference (or a vaguely defined geographic area) is stupid.

We’re past begging for approval.

I never asked you to beg, and I don’t care because I’m not rooting for a football conference or a region of the country. I don’t care what general area the top BCS team plays in.

Now we just want to beat you. And we will.

And I still don’t care.

[Ogre]

@Marley23

Until this point you hadn’t mentioned the fact that your praise was relative. You just said the SEC was geographically logical, which it isn’t.

No, I didn’t. But ironically in arguing against that perceived offense you’re about to invoke the same kind of regional pride that always comes up in these discussions.

I don’t care. My entire point is that rooting for a conference (or a vaguely defined geographic area) is stupid.

Think whatever you like. It won’t stop the chants for one second. It will just make them louder.

[Hamlet]

@Ogre

And as long as Southerners hear about how backward the South is, about how we’re ignorant rednecks, about how, when you hear our accents, you can’t help but think we’re dumb, about how we’re poor and recidivist and bible-beating red-staters, and how could anybody live there because it’s so primitive and hot anyway, it’s going to make us mad. That goes for liberals and conservatives, white and black, rich and poor.

And we’re going to strike back, at least partially, through football.

I really don’t see this as a positive. Instead of dealing with actual issues, like improving education, decreasing obesity, and being more tolerant, too many Southern’s appear to say: “Yep. But we sure did kick yo’ ass in football! Uh Huh Uh Huh!”

@Ogre

Until you understand that, you should never, ever pretend to understand what football means to the South.

And if all that amuses you, or makes you think even worse about us, congratulations. You’ve just fueled the fire even more. We’re past begging for approval. Now we just want to beat you. And we will.

Congrats, you won a football game. Woo fucking hoo! Sure Alabama consistently ranks at the bottom in the nation in poverty rates, obesity, education, infant mortality, internet access, divorce, and quality of life, but dadgummit we win football games!!!

[Marley23]

@Ogre

Think whatever you like. It won’t stop the chants for one second. It will just make them louder.

I didn’t think my opinion would stop anybody from chanting. Of course it won’t make anyone louder either.

[Human_Action]

@Marley23

Until this point you hadn’t mentioned the fact that your praise was relative. You just said the SEC was geographically logical, which it isn’t.

How can a conversation about the unique culture of an athletic conference not be relative to other conferences? In fact my first post on the matter read:

@Human Action

The SEC’s conference pride is a virtue. It reflects well on SEC fans, when contrasted with the mutual contempt that characterizes rival fans in other conferences.

Emphasis added.

The conference pride in question could be affected by the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri. We’ll have to see.

It’s still the most geographically logical conference, and this is relevant due to the cultural roots that underlay SEC pride being those of the region the SEC covers.

[Marley23]

@Human_Action

How can a conversation about the unique culture of an athletic conference not be relative to other conferences?

We’re discussing the geography issue. Your first post about that went this way:

@Human_Action

It should be noted that while all conferences shift over time, and are money-driven (as are all aspects of college football and basketball), the SEC represents a distinct area of the country. It doesn’t have geographical absurdities like West Virginia being in the Big 12 or South Florida in the Big East. All the teams are in the Southeast. This helps give it more of a real identity.

You’ve now admitted that’s not true- because it isn’t. I’ll concede that the SEC is probably more geographically coherent compared to the other FBS conferences. But that’s a much, much more limited statement than ‘the SEC represents a distinct region with no geographical absurdities’ and there’s so little regional coherence in the conferences at this point that it’s hardly praise. And when the SEC expands to 16 teams it’ll probably be as absurd as the other conferences.

[Ogre]

@Hamlet

I really don’t see this as a positive. Instead of dealing with actual issues, like improving education, decreasing obesity, and being more tolerant, too many Southern’s appear to say: “Yep. But we sure did kick yo’ ass in football! Uh Huh Uh Huh!”

It’s not an either/or issue. See you next year!

Congrats, you won a football game. Woo fucking hoo!

Roll Tide!