Comments on: CURIOUS INDEX, 6/16/08

By: oc phil

oc phil — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:28:46 +0000

#39) If national championships were the main criterion then USC/Notre Dame would be the “top” rivalry. But that is usually more about mutual respect and USC/UCLA has more hostility. But both of those pale in intensity next to what I saw in Columbus when tOSU played Michigan.

By: Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive

Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:23:20 +0000

bottom line- championship implications don’t make a good rivalry, they make for good ratings. A good rivalry is defined by a game with such deep-seeded agression that it doesn’t matter if the game means anything to the rest of the world or not, it’s still THAT important to many.

By: Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive

Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:20:59 +0000

Arlo makes a good point- if the rest of the SEC sucked as bad as most other conferences, then the Iron Bowl would have more conference and national title implications.
if you want to argue implications, the winner between Auburn/LSU has won the SEC West just about the whole last decade, or Auburn/Florida or FLA/UGA or any of the rest of the big rivalries in the south that tend to either make or break the other teams’ schedule.

By: arlo

arlo — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:12:50 +0000

” My point was that Auburn-Alabama very often doesn�t even matter for the conference title, much less the national title. ”

Weak conference, maybe?

Rag on Bama and CPB all you want to. He set the records in the SEC.

By: 6 in a row

6 in a row — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:05:17 +0000

well, when they come out with the “Top 5 Most Important Rivalries With Conference or National Championship Implications” list, then you can bitch about the placement of your game…

By: SpartanDan

SpartanDan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:22:44 +0000

I didn’t dispute that Auburn-Alabama is nastier than Michigan-OSU. I’m not *that* crazy. My point was that Auburn-Alabama very often doesn’t even matter for the conference title, much less the national title. Michigan-OSU is usually the de facto Big Ten title game and very often has national title implications. That’s what I meant by “most important”. (OU-Texas has been at that level recently as well, but not for as long.)

By: Downtown Plainsman

Downtown Plainsman — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:49:57 +0000

What’s left to say…

By: fresh

fresh — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:34:49 +0000

AU-Bama is the most vicious rivalry in college football. Texas-OU is a distant second. Michigan-Ohio State? Please. Just because ESPN pushes it doesn’t make it true.

Ole Miss-Mississippi State, in the days of Billy Brewer and Jackie Sherrill, would give any rivalry a run for it’s money. Boosters hiring private investigators, etc. It’s just different down south. Pardon us if we laugh uncontrollably at the Michigan-OSU apologists. In Dixie, we get more intense over Christmas dinner.

By: 6 in a row

6 in a row — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:26:36 +0000

amen.
I took my driver’s license test on a fall friday, and the high school i went to we wore ties on our gamedays. I went to the DMV and took the tests and the lady told me that even though i passed both tests, she was going to fail me because i was wearing an AU tie and she was a Tide fan. And she did fail me.

the pastor of my church would “encourage” auburn fans not to come on the sunday before and after the iron bowl because he would deliver a striclty pro-Alabama sermon. After the first one I attended (out of curiosity), i understood what he meant and never returned on those 2 sundays.

A restaurant i went to once in Birmingham (neutral town, allegedly) had 2 unisex bathrooms and on game weeks they would label one “WAR EAGLE” and the other “ROLL TIDE”.

Certain bars and clubs in all towns would have a loyalty and they wouldn’t let you in on game weeks- or even in other months, for that matter- if you were wearing the other team’s gear- and it was mostly for your own safety.

I know every school has their rivals and people that they hate, but just because you hate a team doesn’t make it one of the top-5 rivalries.

By: sullivan013

sullivan013 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:07:47 +0000

National Championships? National implications? If that’s what it takes to get you fired up for your rivalry game, more power to you.

But down in Dixie, it doesn’t matter if both teams are 11-0 or 0-11. This game matters from the moment of the final gun to the second before next season’s starting gun more than life itself. It splits families, marriages and friendships more than any other reason.

It can get you into shouting match February, and a fistfight in May, four full months before the start of the season. People live, breath, and die in the school colors,….whether they attended the school in question or not. Doesn’t matter.

You mention cross-state rivalries of Oklahoma/Texas, Missou/Kansas and OhioState/Michigan? They just don’t rise to the level of this INTRA-state rivalry. It’s the all-consuming fire that drives people to hate their neighbor/coworker/aquaintence/stranger-passed-on-the-street with a white hot flame. You could ask these people in CHURCH who they hate and they will point out the other team’s fans in their own congregation and swear that Jesus meant they should love their OTHER neighbors.

With other SEC teams I’ll gladly cheer when they play in bowl games, but not those guys. I hope and pray that every game they play ends in an out and out hammering by the other team, forever.

By: Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive

Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:30:13 +0000

i totally don’t see why how many national championships each team has in the past has ANYTHING to do with how heated a rivalry is, but if you want to make that argument, the iron Bowl fans would remind you that Alabama lays claim to 3,759,229 national championships.

oh wait- it’s 12…

By: blon57

blon57 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:10:46 +0000

#39
the night after john blake�s last OU/tx i ended up making out in a bar with some ut zeta – i wooed her by telling her how horrible blake was and how embarrassing OU foobaw was at the time – it was pretty magical

I bet it was. Zetas are pretty extraordinary, but I just can’t explain that poor girl…what could she have been thinking? Someone from OU…

By: okiedomer

okiedomer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:57:04 +0000

#28

i respect and admire both osu/mu and bama/auburn as rivalries, as the hatred there is on par with OU/tx – but florida/uga? please

if my math is correct, florida and uga’s combined MNC total is less than texass’s paltry, disgraceful and shameful 4 MNCs – here’s a simple equation for you:

OU’s MNCs – ut’s MNCs = uga/uf’s combined MNCs

you johnny-come-lately’s need to reassess your rightful place in the world

blon – the night after john blake’s last OU/tx i ended up making out in a bar with some ut zeta – i wooed her by telling her how horrible blake was and how embarrassing OU foobaw was at the time – it was pretty magical

By: blon57

blon57 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:26:59 +0000

#32

Texas sororities are usually just as classy as we are beautiful. (I was a Zeta at UT, but I remember the Tri-Delts being a very class act.) Seeing someone from OU just brings out the worst.

I probably should send an apology your way, but…no.

By: Wes

Wes — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:14:14 +0000

KU and Mizzou can eat a dick. We prefer rivalries that are relevant AT LEAST twice in a century. Therefore, KU-Mizzou has been disqualified. And I lived in Kansas for two years and didn’t even know Mizzou was one of their rivals. I blame Mangino’s dietician.