The one poster has stated several times that he lives in Minneapolis and has learned from living there that he finds Minnesota fans to be arrogant? Or just unlikeable? It almost seems like he hates them even? Is he maybe in need of some medication? j/k Seriously, that was mean of me to joke like that. It's not often you see someone challenge someone else on the internet to meet in person for the purpose of fighting. Some would say anyone who would do such a thing was seriously mentally ill, a psychopath even. I'm not saying I agree, for people just get worked up, they feel safe behind their computer screens so they just let their fingers get away from them and they post things they probably regret later. There are no actual faces being spoken to. Some of the people being insulted and ridiculed or who are being challenged to fights, or who are doing the challenging or the insulting or the ridiculing, probably have families. They have friends and people who care about them. They have feelings and emotions and are one of God's children, deserving of respect. Oh, sorry for bringing God into it, but maybe if God had more of a place in society, fewer people would act so disrespectfully towards each other.
Now I don't think a little harmless smack talk is a mortal sin, but we should still try to be civil. I've lived on the West Coast and was treated very disrespectfully by sports fans out there. I lived in the south and the same thing. I lived on the East Coast and again, the same thing. So is the whole country a bunch of horrible arrogant disrespectful people, or did I attract such people by proudly wearing my school's colors around? Why is it wrong to be proud of your school? Why is it arrogance to feel proud about your school's accomplishments?
In my time out and about, living all over the country, and in all my years as a sports fan, I never really got the impression that anyone thought too highly of my school, but I didn't get the impression anyone thought to highly of Syracuse either. Minnesota and Syracuse both won Natl Titles in 1959 and 1960. Both have since done not a lot of anything really, in cfb. Finishing 4th in the AP poll once in the last 50 years isn't too much to crow about. And Syracuse fans seem to think it appropriate to dismiss the past when talking about the comparison between the Orange and the Gophers, but how far back should we go? Who decides? A Gopher fan might want to go back as far as possible, because it gives them a huge advantage. A Syracuse fan protests and says it should be contained to their lifetime, but why their lifetime, why not mine, or my daughters or someone else's? A Syracuse fan may want to go back 25 or 30 years, because that would conveniently include some of their best seasons and give them a huge advantage. But how is any of what happened 100 or 60 or 30 years ago, or 25 or 20 or 15 years ago even relevant? It isn't. A Gopher fan may say, lets go back 10 years to keep it more relevant. They might do that because the Gophers have arguably done more in the last 10 years than Syracuse has. Others may say, lets only talk about what has happened this year. And plenty of talk about this year has occurred. The two sides just seem unable to agree about what any of it really means. And I'd love to be able to claim that I am a perfectly objective person, but I am not. I could try to be, but its too hard. When I see someone say something that deserves a response, or I see someone insult someone, I just find it hard to resist. I feel an injustice has occurred and needs to be addressed.
I was going to try to hide that I was a Gopher fan, for awhile longer at least, but it seems this site is banning all of the Gopher fans, so I might be the last one left? I am not sure if I'll get banned or not, but I'm going to try not to be. I am the kind of person who responds to kindness with kindness, and though I try to resist, I can respond to disrespect with disrespect. I have found that I can hold my own in an argument, but I try to avoid them if I can. In my better moments I respond to disrespect with kindness. But what I can not tolerate is a liar. Ignorance is forgivable, but not knowingly lying.
I am not a former fb player or a coach, so I probably am not the best person to analyze game strategy with, but football is my favorite sport to watch. I am a former athlete, Golf, cross country, karate, soccer, softball, volleyball, bowling and basketball, my nephew was a football, hockey and baseball player and many of my cousins were wrestlers, and my youngest daughter was on a Natl Championship Cheer/Dance team, so I am basically a sports fan in general. I've never played Lacrosse, but I've seen it played in movies and it looks like a cool sport. So you won't find me poking fun of Syracuse fans because they care about a sport the majority of sports fans do not care about. But I get a lot of time off during the winter months, so I'd love to conversate with some Syracuse fans this month. I got bored talking only to Gopher fans last winter. But if no one is interested, I'll understand.
