Yesterday was the first time all season that friends of mine who are Ohio State fans set aside their personal bias and to cheer for the Big Ten teams in their respective bowl games. Likewise, fans of Michigan and Northwestern visibly did the same, cheering for normal in-season rivals, not to mention that the ESPN Radio guys were talking all day about "Big Ten Love".
Unfortunately for this temporary Big Ten harmony, it was a bad day overall, as Wisconsin and Northwestern lost narrowly. Worse yet, Michigan and Michigan State each got trounced by SEC teams by more than 5 touchdowns a piece, to Bama and Mississippi State, respectively. I think the growth of the Big Ten beyond ten teams may have something to do with it, but I also think that courteous and neighborly Midwesternism makes the college football fans west of the Allegheny Mountains root for the conference as a whole.
My original home base of Philadelphia is a big sports town, and in my view when it comes to college sports, basketball seems to be king in generating the most interest and college sports angst. But basketball fans there have the luxury of the fact that their teams in the “Big 5” (Penn, Temple, Villanova, LaSalle and St. Joe’s) are spread throughout the Atlantic Ten, Ivy League, and Big East conferences.
Still, when the Big 5 teams play each other the there’s no love lost for sure, like with Big Ten football on a normal week. But without a formal Big 5 tournament, the Philly Big 5 champion is determined by who bagged the best results against local rivals. After that, one or two Philadelphia schools go onto March Madness as they have for 33 consecutive years without so much as a pat on the back or a good luck salute from the city’s other rival fans. So, as a lifelong Villanova fan (and someone raised Catholic) I can’t say I care too much what St Joe’s makes of the tournament. If the Hawks make it in, good for them and good for the city, I guess.
Likewise, come Tuesday night I doubt that there will be a ton of Penn State fans pulling real hard for Ohio State to beat Arkansas just so the Big Ten can look good. And they sure as hell won’t be cheering for Pitt in the Compass Bowl on January 8th, whether or not it makes Pennsylvania look good.
So it must be a Midwestern thing, this cordial approach to spectating. Big Ten football is one thing, but I’ve noticed this tendency --sports philandering you could call it-- in more extreme forms in and around Chicago and other places in the center of the country.
I know a few people in Chicago who hail from St Louis and, as Cards fans, follow the Cubs during baseball season and generally have stated that they hope for the Cubs to do well. This doesn’t make a bit of sense since the Cardinals and Cubs are in the same division, making it a zero sum game since only one can win the NL Central and get an assured pass to the playoffs. Then again, this friendly sentiment could be some sort of Cardinals mind trick.
Plus, last week, Bears fans that got out to watch the Eagles / Vikings game at a Bears-only-no-Vikings-fans bar were cheering vocally for the Vikings. I noticed that every time the Vikings, who ended up winning, did something marginally good, there were positive chirps from the beer-buzzed pre-Christmas Bears bar crowd. The sports philandering that occurred on this foggy night, however, was solely the pleasure-seeking type of philandering; since a loss for the Eagles meant a playoff bye and a week of rest for the Bears.
Even better, I have heard over the years from Bears fans how much they like Lambeau Field and enjoy the trip to Green Bay to play the Packers, as they probably did Sunday. Sure, Lambeau has a nice atmosphere. And if their habits stay the same, most of these Bears fans on the road home would have, I am certain, stopped to pick up some Wisconsin brats and cheese curds on the way. Yet, I’d be hard pressed to think that Eagles fans in Dallas would stay an extra hour to shop at the original Neiman Marcus.
“People in the Midwest are just nicer,” my wife explains. Could be. No wait... they’re definitely nicer come to think of it. But I don’t think that totally explains it all.
Carolina fans only. Besides, Clemson fans don't own shoes.
One thought came to mind at the conclusion of my holiday week away, at the graveyard where my late father-in-law is buried. Our visit is a usual thing when we’re in Ohio for a few days, and I remember Doug as a great guy who loved life, good food, golf, and college football. Doug had, while marginally supporting his childhood home team of South Carolina, adopted the Ohio State Buckeyes as another home team at home.
Sure, Doug was a Buckeyes fan, but he was rather shown up by all the other sports fans in this cemetery. I saw plenty of gravestones with Ohio State logos, plus several representing other sports teams like Michigan State, Miami U and the Cincinnati Reds, plus a few with Bengals stripes on them not to mention the local Centerville High School Elks crest.
Maybe what it is, is this: That fans in the Midwest love their sport and feel secure enough in their fandom not only to take it to the grave, but also to share a little of their affections while living. And if that’s the case, it’s not philandering but free love.
Andy Frye writes about sports and life here and tweets throughout the day on Twitter at @MySportsComplex.
Like others do now, he plans to follow sports someday from the grave.
Written words and pics © 2011
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