Grantland: Rules of College Football Fandom

[OrangeChris]

Part 1:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/34672/the-rules-of-college-football-fandom

Part 2:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...the-rules-of-college-football-fandom-part-2-2

Interesting. I disagree with some parts, and other parts seem contradictory. There's a 100% chance someone will take it way too seriously and get upset though.

 

[shantydaze]

“I’m a fan of a school where I got my graduate degree.”
Hmm. I’m going to need some more information. Like, what happened to yourundergraduate school? Your connection with your alma mater can’t just be severed. You can’t get a BA from Purdue and then “upgrade” when you attend Wisconsin Law — or, worse, root for both teams. (If you find yourself in the Boilermaker-in-Madison scenario, maintain your Purdue fandom and try to blend in, like Brad Pitt’s guys pretending to be German in Inglourious Basterds.)
Now, as a grad student, you may be eligible for my 1-AA exception. If your undergrad degree is from a school in the Football Championship Subdivision (the old 1-AA) and now you’re attending a school in the Football Bowl Subdivision (the old D-1), then it’s OK to change teams. Once.

I understand it being difficult to root for two teams in the same conference, but he does not address whether rooting for your undergrad and grad school would be acceptable if they were in separate conferences. This is one of the big reasons I did not want SU in the Big Ten, divided loyalties. It is not "changing teams," it is adding team. Of course, this has created at least three double fandom moments (basketball included), which are challenging.

 

[OrangeChris]

I understand it being difficult to root for two teams in the same conference, but he does not address whether rooting for your undergrad and grad school would be acceptable if they were in separate conferences. This is one of the big reasons I did not want SU in the Big Ten, divided loyalties. It is not "changing teams," it is adding team. Of course, this has created at least three double fandom moments (basketball included), which are challenging.

He seems pretty adamantly opposed to rooting for 2 teams on the same "level" (e.g. FBS, FCS), so he likely wouldn't allow it regardless of conference affiliation. I agree with only having ONE team as it pertains to non-alums that say, "I root for Notre Dame football, but Duke basketball!" (idiots). However, if you actually attended a school and earned a degree from that university, you can root for them. End of story. I don't care if all your degrees are from schools in the same division, conference, zip code, etc. Degree trumps all other factors, with number of teams limited only by number of degrees. He's oddly obsessed with "renouncing" your other schools, which I found weird and unnecessary. I do believe that earlier schools should trump later ones though, i.e. your undergrad plays your grad, you should root for undergrad. Some of his comments in Part 2 are pretty funny though.

 

[TexanMark]

I root for Oswego State in Hockey and Syracuse in everything else. Your classic townie CNYer who went to SUCO vs SU.

BTW, Clarkson, Hamilton and Geneseo can suck eggs. We (Oswego) outdrew UConn 4-1 in Hockey and they are going to Hockey East.

I don't need some T-Sip punk from Fort Worth to tell me the fan rules.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

I root for Oswego State in Hockey and Syracuse in everything else. Your classic townie CNYer who went to SUCO vs SU.

BTW, Clarkson, Hamilton and Geneseo can suck eggs. We (Oswego) outdrew UConn 4-1 in Hockey and they are going to Hockey East.

I don't need some T-Sip punk from Fort Worth to tell me the fan rules.

F Clarkson. My dad's an RPI grad, so that's where my hockey allegiances lie since SU doesn't have a men's team.