# Most ridiculous "directional schools" in college sports **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 4, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190 "2020-12-04T09:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/101 "2020-12-08T12:34:38Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > “Western” Illinois. At its width, its 210 miles. > “Northern” Kentucky. 185 up to down. > Don’t get me started on East, West and Central Michigan. If people insist on location based names, it is possible to avoid exaggeration and ambiguity and, in fact, be totally precise. We simply have to name them by their exact GPS location! For example, instead of Western Illinois University, it could be named, “40°28’13.41” N by 90°41’15.86" W" University. Who could dispute that? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/102 "2020-12-08T13:36:04Z")
Just imagine the chants at football games. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/103 "2020-12-08T13:37:47Z")
Ah! LOL I guess you would have to stick with their nickname only. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/104 "2020-12-08T15:01:35Z")
@Jasmine: you mean like this: > Go Forty-Ninety! Go Forty-Ninety! You’re the best place of all! Yaaa-aaY! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/105 "2020-12-08T15:55:35Z")
What I don’t get is why a geographically-based name should be regarded as “ridiculous” _at all_, never mind “most ridiculous.” It’s a name. It’s not particularly creative, but “University of (City/state)” and “(City/state) State University” aren’t particularly creative names either. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/106 "2020-12-08T16:40:36Z")
The OP is, as he later said, a confused mishmash of several ideas, none of them very clever. If I had to bet, this was written late at night. In no particular order, the OP was poking at: 1. Schools with directional names in states shaped so the stated directionality is not really a valid differentiator. e.g. “Far Western Delaware State”, where nothing is “far” or even really “western” in tiny Delaware. 2. Schools with directional names where the stated directionality isn’t geographically accurate. e.g. “Far Western Delaware State” but is actually located on the Eastern seashore of Delaware. 3. In general, schools with directional names are often treated as minor second rate satellite schools of the big first rate one without the direction in its name. The more elaborate the directionality, the more likely the school is 3rd or even 4th tier. e.g. “Southern Southwestern Central Delaware State” is really, _really_ bush league. This is true in sports as well as academics. Or so goes the trope. The OP’s contention was minor schools are being illegitimately considered as contenders in bigger better sports leagues because of their directional names. Perhaps trying to trade on the name recognition of the non-directional school. Like I said up front; maybe a recreational substance-induced post. But a fun one nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/107 "2020-12-12T21:56:56Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Sure. Thank you for asking. > > The Midwest starts at the Mississippi River, westward through Iowa and Nebraska to the foothills of the Rockies. > > Ohio, Indiana, Illinois are the Mideast, as I used to say before that label started to mean a whole different troubled part of the world. So, for me, the Mississippi is the easternmost edge of the Midwest. So I guess when the tens of millions of Ohioans and Indianans and Illinoisans and Michganders, etc., say we consider ourselves Midwesterners, you’re going to keep telling us we are wrong based on an arbitrary geographic standard? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190.md?page=5)