Why exactly do people have this obsessive conference loyalty in College Football?

 

For instance, UK has been the whipping boy of the SEC for years and yet they defend it with a passion even going so far as to get into arguments with other people about it. It isn't even a regional thing. I have a friend who hates the South with every fiber of his being, and yet he defends and roots for the SEC with a passion.

 

I see it with fans of the Big 10(11) from schools like IU who also seem to be bottom dwellers constantly.

 

Is this like battered team syndrome, much like batterred wife syndrome? "You don't know the conference like we do..." Defending the one closest to you that abuses you regularly? That's like Ballard or Eastern taking Trinity's side on anything.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have my own loyalties. I am a Shamrock first and foremost and I pull for the Catholic schools at every level possible so I suppose you could look at me just as oddly. I always want the Rocks to win or, barring that, St.X to win. In college I will pull for the Irish.

 

I pull for my hometown Louisville and my home state, Kentucky. Short of that though I don't understand any particular geographic loyalty to an artificially designated organization on account of the fact that a school I might pull for is a member of it. I mean I suppose in the simplest sense of it all, everything man made (including lines on a map) is in essense artificial and unnatural but that would fall under the purview of your conundrums of philosophy, which I am not here to discuss. I will go to GD or P&R for that.

 

So I put it to you fans of the Pac-10, the Big 12, the Big 10(11), the Big East and the SEC to explain it to me.

 

Please no cheerleading either, I don't want the irrational posts that consist of "WOOOOO!!!!1111!! GOOOO $EC!!! SEC #1!!!!" and so on.

WOOOOO!!!!1111!! GOOOO $EC!!! SEC #1!!!! etc.....

 

I couldn't help my-self.

WOOOOO!!!!1111!! GOOOO $EC!!! SEC #1!!!! etc.....

 

I couldn't help my-self.

 

I figured I'd get at least one after I typed it. :lol:

If you're continally at the bottom of your conference, don't you think you'd want to say that you're at least in a good conference?

 

Would you really want to say "Yeah, we're the worst in the Big East, and the Big East is BAAAAD." No, you want to say "We may be the worst in the Big East, but the Big East is TOUGH!"

 

You can't really dispute your place in your conference, but you can dispute your conference's place among the others.

I think the SEC is the best conference this year (and a few other years... Not all), but short of that opinion I don't really care all that much.

It's like when you picked on your younger sibling as a kid, but you would fight anyone outside of the family that tried to do the same.

If you're continally at the bottom of your conference, don't you think you'd want to say that you're at least in a good conference?

 

Would you really want to say "Yeah, we're the worst in the Big East, and the Big East is BAAAAD." No, you want to say "We may be the worst in the Big East, but the Big East is TOUGH!"

 

You can't really dispute your place in your conference, but you can dispute your conference's place among the others.

 

 

But at the same time that doesn't make YOUR team any better. It really is more or less making yourself feel better about being crappy. Not that UK has been in recent years, they have been a team that you don't look forward to playing.

 

 

I want to make this apparent I am not targetting UK fans and the SEC specifically here. I am just using them as an example simply because I hear it the most living where I do.

It's like when you picked on your younger sibling as a kid, but you would fight anyone outside of the family that tried to do the same.

 

 

That makes more sense, but I suppose I don't see an athletic conference as close enough to the level of "family" for that.

 

I consider Trinity-St.X family as I would UK-UL. Because they grow up together, they're close they're family, in the sense that I would look at it.

 

Whereas say UL was getting clobbered year in, year out by WV and Pitt. I wouldn't go Big East flag waving because they are in the same conference, saying "Well you couldn't have beaten them either." I have no ties to those places, they are not close to me so while I may respect them I am not about to go "WOOO!!! BIG EAST!!! YEAH BROTHER!!!"

I believe it is a natural tendencey of most to root for their conference. If a team from your conference wins an OOC game, it makes your own team (and conference) look better.

I definitely root for Ohio State, but I don't normally root for any more Big Ten teams. So I am out of the ordinary I guess, because I root for a team and not a conference, I have rooted for Michigan (first time and only because I wanted to see Carr go out a winner) I rooted for Arkansas (McFadden fan), Kansas, WVU, UC just to name a few.

But at the same time that doesn't make YOUR team any better. It really is more or less making yourself feel better about being crappy.

 

I think it really is making yourself feel better, but here's the logic.

 

Lets say you have two conferences in the country that don't play each other at all.

 

Conference A standings:

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

 

Conference B standings:

Team 4

Team 5

Team 6

 

 

If the conferences are equal, Team 3 is the 5th or 6th best team in the country. BUT, if Conference A is superior to B, Team 3 could be the 3rd best in the country. They just moved from the bottom third, to the top half.

Me personally I am a Big 12 fan. I have and always will love Nebraska football, good or bad. The main reason I can't stand the SEC is for the same reason you ask the question. I get badgered and harrassed about why I should love the SEC and not anything else. People like that made it impossible for me to root for SEC schools in football.

A. Too many teams to keep up with...

 

B. Ability to watch conference teams in your market...

 

C. Comparative scoring is always fun...

Most fans are passionate about their conference because they have grown up watching them for many years or have a certain connection to that conference such as being a former player in the conference they follow or has a relative or friend that plays or has played.

The local media also could be a factor. If you only see or hear news from one conf. on a daily basis, I think you will more than likely have a tendency to follow that conference with a little more enthusiasm than one you are not so familiar with.

Seems to me that frequent matchups would create friction and tension, not endearment between conference members.