Around the Big Ten

[AlabamAlum]

The SEC thing is just a regionally accepted version of frontrunning.


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Okay. That conference pride thing happens with all conferences' fans. It even happens on this very forum. it's a circle-the-wagon, us-vs-them attitude IMO.

[drok]

True, but it doesn't manifest itself so vocally with any other conference.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The SEC is unique in that

1) For better or for worse it represents the "Old South"...if "Southern" is how you self-identify then this is the conference for you. Much more so than the ACC, which is full of "Yankees" now. I do believe the South is also pretty much the only region in the country (for all sorts of historical reasons) that still has a strong regional character to it. In the West, the Midwest, or the Northeast, there is no equivalent regional culture. Maybe New England but that's about as close as it gets. I imagine this is slowly changing over time with northern migration and what it means to be "Southern" is changing over time as well.

2) The lack of successful professional sports franchises made the SEC the only game in town. Five SEC states have no major sports teams: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and S Carolina. The southern franchises that do exist are either too new to have any sort of real tradition (Titans, Jaguars, Texans, Pelicans) or have long histories of failure (Saints, Bucs, all of Atlanta's teams)

[AlabamAlum]

Perhaps. I know of no hard metrics on such things. I do know that B1G fans can be just at wrapped in such things. Does it happen more eith the SEC? Maybe. Conference pride is skrong, though.

[Wild Hoss]

AA.. We all have bias in who we pull for or against when our teams are not involved. But the SEC is unlike any other conference. They are the outlier.


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They're like Greg Focker playing volleyball with the Brynes family...trying too hard because the just don't quite get that its a game.

[Wild Hoss]

But not you AA.

hi!

[Wild Hoss]

I imagine this is slowly changing over time with northern migration and what it means to be "Southern" is changing over time as well.

hola!

[AlabamAlum]

The SEC is unique in that

1) For better or for worse it represents the "Old South"...if "Southern" is how you self-identify then this is the conference for you. Much more so than the ACC, which is full of "Yankees" now. I do believe the South is also pretty much the only region in the country (for all sorts of historical reasons) that still has a strong regional character to it. In the West, the Midwest, or the Northeast, there is no equivalent regional culture. Maybe New England but that's about as close as it gets. I imagine this is slowly changing over time with northern migration and what it means to be "Southern" is changing over time as well.

2) The lack of successful professional sports franchises made the SEC the only game in town. Five SEC states have no major sports teams: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and S Carolina. The southern franchises that do exist are either too new to have any sort of real tradition (Titans, Jaguars, Texans, Pelicans) or have long histories of failure (Saints, Bucs, all of Atlanta's teams)

1) The Old South thing is horseshit.

2) Lack of pro teams has some basis.

But there is a huge anti-SEC perception by fans of teams in the SEC. It perhaps bolsters the circle-the-wagon mentality of some SEC fans. But it really happens at all the P5 conferences.

You can take Bama's game with Sparty. I know many B1G fans of other schools who consider MSU a mortal enemy, but were loudly and passionately rooting for the boys in green. One of my best friends is a surgeon from M. You would have thought he was a lifelong Spartan. There can be no mistake. That is a version of the "SEC!" mentality.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Perhaps. I know of no hard metrics on such things. I do know that B1G fans can be just at wrapped in such things. Does it happen more eith the SEC? Maybe. Conference pride is skrong, though.

I think there's a cultural dimension to the S-E-C chant that doesn't exist for any other conference. Someone in Chicago might identify first and foremost with the Bears...they've been there 90 years, his grampa was a Bears fan, etc etc. Someone in Alabama is a Tide fan, first and foremost. Maybe he's tried to like the Titans, but they suck and have only been around a relatively brief time. College sports have much higher prominence in the South and on top of that I think self-identifying as a region is strongest in the South.

[CGVT]

College football validates people in the south. It is as if having a good football team somehow makes you a better person.

I have lived all over the country, but nothing compares to SEC country when comes to the perceived value of having a good college football team. If you dare question the local teams chances, you have insulted the very being of the SEC football fan.

Everything revolves around college football. When my son was in scouts, I could look at the Alabama schedule and know what weekend his camping trip would be scheduled on. If I want to get in and out of the grocery store in a hurry, I go during the Alabama game. Hounds tooth is an acceptable fashion choice for women of all ages.

When David Shula was coach, Alabama was putting some decent basketball teams on the floor. I joked with an Alabama fan that Shula was turning Bama into a basketball school. I thought he was going to cry.

There are passionate fans all over the country, but in no place that I have ever lived or visited is college football so important to the psyche of the population.

[AlabamAlum]

I have accepted that the paucity of pro teams in the south does have some effect.

But I don't think it's as big an issue as it was 30 years ago. Especially with the fact that we have NFL franchises in Texas, Lousiana, Tennessee, Florida, and North Carolina now.

Go to a Braves or a Falcons game. You will be shocked the number of Mississippians and Alabamians who believe that is "their" team.

[CGVT]

When I moved to Alabama somebody asked me what my football team was. I said the Lions.

With very few exceptions no one in Alabama or Mississippi would answer that question with the Saints

[Dr. Strangelove]

1) The Old South thing is horseshit.

2) Lack of pro teams has some basis.

But there is a huge anti-SEC perception by fans of teams in the SEC. It perhaps bolsters the circle-the-wagon mentality of some SEC fans. But it really happens at all the P5 conferences.

You can take Bama's game with Sparty. I know many B1G fans of other schools who consider MSU a mortal enemy, but were loudly and passionately rooting for the boys in green. One of my best friends is a surgeon from M. You would have thought he was a lifelong Spartan. There can be no mistake. That is a version of the "SEC!" mentality.

The anti-SEC perception isn't restricted to sports...there's widespread belief in the South, at least historically, that the South has been horribly mistreated, insulted, abused, and misjudged by the rest of the country since the dawn of time. Perhaps that is dying out as time goes by but the historical memory of the South is full of real and imagined grievances.

[AlabamAlum]

College football is important down here. Don't know that much about the effect David Shula would have on anything.

I have friends in other areas and honestly they are more that kinda passionate with the NFL team they support.

I mean there are a few NFL venues where you don't want to wear the rival team's jersey to the game.

[iam416]

The problem with Alabama is that it's full of Alabamaniacs.