One thing I've always stuggled to understand is just how popular College sport is for you guys, i don't think i will ever truly understand it.
One thing I've always stuggled to understand is just how popular College sport is for you guys, i don't think i will ever truly understand it.
It's just how history went. Football and basketball began as college sports, and they were already popular long before the NFL and NBA flourished. (MLB was the opposite -- it took root early as a pro sport and only recently has the college game started picking up interest.) They stayed popular because of the local angle -- large swaths of the country were, and still are, distant from the nearest major pro sports town. Hard to imagine now, but until the mid-1960s there were no major sports franchises in the southeastern U.S. Depending on where you lived, the closest team would be Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, St. Louis or Dallas.
I guess in some respects college teams serve the function that soccer clubs do in much of the rest of the world; they may not be at the highest level of the sport, but no matter where you go, there's a home team to root for.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
thatcoolguy_22 (06-26-2013)
Melbourne to Cincinnati - September 1st - 12th 2013
MLB: Cincinnati Reds
NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
College Football: Bowling Green Falcons (where I graduated)
NBA: Cleveland Cavs (was an original stockholder---VERY,VERY small, team started by another Bowling Green Alum, I knew many of the people working there and I had a business relationship with them.)
NHL: What's that?
Pro Tennis: All the major names and tounaments.
Rem
"For Reds fans, by Reds fans" Learn it, love it, live it.
I think its more were you are from. Such as I am orginally from Kentucky. I haven't lived there for 23 years but I still follow Kentucky basketball and football as much or even more than when I lved there. It will always be home and its a piece of home that I can always cling to. It's also a common bond for all Kentuckians no matter where they go. If you meet someone who is from Kentucky the first thing you ask them about is how they think the basketball team will do next season.
Reds Fan Since 1971
Both. I grew up a UC basketball fan but also rooted for UC football but they weren't much to speak of. It pains me to say it, but I was a big Michigan football fan, loved Charles Woodson. When I went to school my allegiance changed 100%. You were going to class with the same athletes who took the field.
To me it always has been a little disingenuous to root for a college that you have no allegiance towards.
Joseph (06-26-2013)
So do I just not get to follow college sports?? I was an undergrad at LeMoyne College. No football at LeMoyne so I am disingenuous because I follow Notre Dame?? Basketball at LeMoyne was Division 2 so I am disingenuous to follow any Division I program?
What about kids who don't go to any college - is it disingenuous for them to choose a team to follow?
"I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all out of bubble gum."
- - Rowdy Roddy Piper
"It takes a big man to admit when he is wrong. I am not a big man"
- - Fletch
I would like to add to what the fellas have already put here(they were all great responses). Other than baseball and hockey there was a time here that college football and college basketball were more popular than their pro counterparts. IMO, the NFL never got big until the 60's and the NBA never got big until the early 80's. The college level of those two sports predates the professional level. Higher learning institutions dot the landscape here, and many have been around for over a 100 years and the one thing the American people embraced was collegiate sports. Don't know if that makes any sense but to us it does. Do a google search for Harvard and Yale football...it might shed a little more light on the question you asked.
MLB: Reds
NFL: Titans
NHL: Predators (pretty casual though)
NCAA: Kentucky
NBA: Wizards, but I mostly just pull for UK players
The USMNT in soccer, and I try to follow EPL. If I had to pick a team I guess I'd say Man City, but honestly that's just because I like some of the guys on their team.
Championships for MY teams in my lifetime:
Cincinnati Reds - 75, 76, 90
Chicago Blackhawks - 10, 13, 15
University of Kentucky - 78, 96, 98, 12
Chicago Bulls - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
“Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
MLB: Reds
NFL: Browns
NHL: Avalanche/Jackets
NCAA: Ohio State
As far as rooting for colleges you didn't attend, I think about here in Ohio. Outside of Cincinnati, most people grow up OSU fans. So even when they go to other schools (the MAC schools, community colleges, small non D1 schools) it is still the school you grew up with. I remember a few years ago, when Akron played at Ohio State, I remember seeing Akron cheerleaders and fans singing Hang on Sloopy, doing the O-H-I-O cheer before realizing they weren't wearing scarlet and grey that week. In Ohio at least, I find most people root for Ohio teams against non-Ohio teams, and there's a sense of camaraderie between them. Until that whole bUCkeye state thing under Kelly. Now I'll never root for UC.
Domo Arigato, Here Comes Joey Votto
---TRF
"I do what I want to do and say what I want to say."
--Bronson Arroyo
MLB: Reds (obviously)
NCAA: Ohio Bobcats (proud alumnus, and OU football season ticket holder since 1995)
NFL: Bengals
NBA: Celtics (goes back to the Larry Bird days)
EPL: Arsenal
NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Sr. (since he died I have no rooting interest, though I still watch the Daytona 500)
NHL: No rooting interest, though I sometimes watch the playoffs
Tennis: John McEnroe (Huh? You mean he doesn't play anymore?)
Golf: No interest, though I root against Tiger Woods, and I'm somewhat partial to Phil Mickelson
I root for Team USA in all international competitions (Olympics, WBC, World Cup, etc.), though I am also a fan of the Swedish Women's Curling Team.
I also root individually for any former Bobcat player in the pros, and for his team if I have no other rooting interest in that game.
Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman. Damn glad to meet ya.
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