The Rest of College Football

[Jamie H]

Well, Kentucky never seceded from the Union, so I don't think they are officially part of the "deep South".

[Hannibal]

There is definitely a cultural difference with southern football fans. I'm not sure why it ultimately exists, but winning at all costs is more important down there than up here. I think that there's also still a regional inferiority complex at work on some level. That's why they chant "S-E-C" when they win an out-of-conference game impressively.

[Wild Hoss]

There is definitely a cultural difference with southern football fans. I'm not sure why it ultimately exists, but winning at all costs is more important down there than up here. I think that there's also still a regional inferiority complex at work on some level. That's why they chant "S-E-C" when they win an out-of-conference game impressively.

This.

[Jamie H]

Seriously, can you imagine Miichigan fans chanting "Big Ten! Big Ten!" at any point during anything?

There is a giant "Us vs Them" thing going on for SEC fans.

[Wild Hoss]

Seriously, can you imagine Miichigan fans chanting "Big Ten! Big Ten!" at any point during anything?

I suppose not, but you'd definitely never hear "Big 12!", I can assure you of that.

Entropy and I have discussed the phenomenon before, and it always struck as as being downright odd. I mean, I get the conference pride thing but we'd be chanting "Go Big Red!", even in the Big Eight days when we liked our conference.

It being a "south thing" makes the most sense.

[whodean]

People in the south in general are definitely more passionate about their football.

[hack]

I don't think that's it. People anywhere across the country are plenty passionate. Ann Arbor, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay, etc.

[hack]

Jim Ford, Harlan County: a super roots album. http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6598. Poss right up your alley if it's new to you, whoDean.

[entropy]

That is exactly how I?d describe it.

I am not suggesting everybody else is squeaky-clean by any stretch of the imagination, just that the SEC has taken it to absurd levels, akin to bringing the local Legion team into a mixed softball league. Sad thing is...its not that nobody seems to even care, but rather the media and SEC fans enjoy crowing about the subsequent string of run-rule games that follows. Its almost comical. They should be embarrassed.

Its really making it more and more difficult for me to get emotionally invested college football anymore. My focus the past few years continues to narrow; I used to follow the sport as a whole; knew the best players and coaches from all over the nation, and made time to watch big games from all different conferences. Now its just Nebraska and its immediate environs, as it really doesn't matter who does what outside of the SEC. I couldn?t name twenty players from outside the Big Ten if my life depended on it.

For that to happen to somebody who was as big a college football fan as I used to be...I don?t think that bodes well for the sport?s future unless something is done. I cannot be the only one out there who feels this way. Maybe I am.

I feel the same way. IMO, the NCAA has sold out because of the high tv ratings in the SEC. But the ratings around the country are just going to get worse as more people feel like we do.

In the last 5 years I have stopped watching ESPN gameday, stopped watching CBS football, stopped watching SEC period, stopped watching any game involving Texas and stopped watching the ACC. I'm basically down to the B1G, PAC, Big12 north and odds and ends.

[entropy]

The SEC cheating is also why I'm excited to see the PAC and B1G alliance. I know the new years bowl games are big money for the conference, but it is the B1G that generates that money with their huge traveling fanbases. Time to find other friends..

[whodean]

Jim Ford, Harlan County: a super roots album. http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6598. Poss right up your alley if it's new to you, whoDean.

Thanks Hack, to reciprocate, Dave Alvin a fave along those lines

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8N_YWOELY"]Dave Alvin - Harlan County Line - YouTube[/ame]

[lineygoblue]

The SEC cheating is also why I'm excited to see the PAC and B1G alliance. I know the new years bowl games are big money for the conference, but it is the B1G that generates that money with their huge traveling fanbases. Time to find other friends..

Agree completely.

[Wild Hoss]

I feel the same way. IMO, the NCAA has sold out because of the high tv ratings in the SEC. But the ratings around the country are just going to get worse as more people feel like we do.

In the last 5 years I have stopped watching ESPN gameday, stopped watching CBS football, stopped watching SEC period, stopped watching any game involving Texas and stopped watching the ACC. I'm basically down to the B1G, PAC, Big12 north and odds and ends.

Yeah, now that you mention it I have gone much the same way...never really thought of it that way before.

I refuse to watch any SEC games on principle; not that I?m missing much, as they are more conservative and boring than even the NFL is. Heck, you could probably make the case for an NFL-AFL parallel developing in college football right now. The SEC has steadily become more regressively pro-style as their offenses continue to retract in fear of the defenses (The old NFL), while the rest of the nation is spreading out and throwing more (The old AFL).

You have to wonder if eventually the SEC?s brand will weaken outside of its region because of this. I am all for playing great defense and don?t want 67-56 games every week, but 9-6 placekicking contests are just as much bullshit to watch IMO. The rating from yesterday would indicate I?m not the only one.

Give me a good K-State game to watch. (Painful to say) The seaosn they had this year...that's what college football should endeavor to be, not Saban's gang of semi-pro mercenaries.

[hodgkal]

Going back to my earlier comments:

"...how do Blacks (African Americans if you prefer) fit into your equation?"

This is interesting. Actually the poor whites of the south in the Civil War era, ie, the majority with Scots-Irish ancestry that filled the lower classes, were not slave owners. They were victims of many of the same oppressions as the slaves and were not disposed to hate the blacks. The plantation owners OTOH were a small but wealthy privileged minority who looked down on both groups and were the driving force behind the nationwide schism that led to the Civil War.

But when threats from an outside adversary (the north) threatened, these so-called "poor whites" circled the wagons and fought tenaciously against those despised foreigners from the north. They filled the ranks of the Confederate Army and were a large reason the Civil War dragged on as long as it did. These poor whites were not quitters and would rather take casualties than surrender!

The people who really abused the blacks were the plantation owners. They were descendents of wealthy British settlers in the mid-1600s who came from the wealthy privileged classes in England that fled the English Civil War. The brought along their inherited wealth along with a certain arrogance of class. They appropriated large tracts of fertile land in tidewater Virginia and developed large tobacco plantations. They became known as Virginia Cavaliers. When their tobacco plantations exhausted the fertile coastal soils they moved southward and began growing cotton which required cheap labor. Slavery and cotton were their sustenance. Interestingly, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson came from this background.

This is a very limited glimpse of a fascinating study of 4 basic groups of English who settled early America in its earliest days. For more study see:

[ame][URL="http://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-Cultural/dp/0195069056/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326233261&sr=1-1"]Albion\'s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History) by [URL="http://www.amazon.com/David-Hackett-Fischer/e/B000AQ4LL8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1326233261&sr=1-1"]David Hackett Fischer[/ame] You can buy it by clicking the Amazon button at the top of this website.

[hodgkal]

The book is "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History)" by David Hackett Fischer