40 thoughts on “Hating State Schools But Rooting For Them Anyway”

  3. I’m shaking my head at the simple truth of this post. How many times have I heard it thundered from the pulpit, “Learn not way of the heathen! Don’t you dare go to ‘Satan U.’!” And then after the service, ‘preacher’ chats it up with some of the men about IU, UNC, etc.

  7. As a Mississippi State fan (and graduate), I really do hate both of the schools, and teams, shown on this picture.

  8. Or Hook Em Horns!!!! No its not the satanic hand sign in this instance, it go Longshorns. Note I am not a fan of the Texas Longhorns, never have have been and never will be.

  9. WOW! Living in Alabama has really opened my eyes to the fanaticism that follows college sports. The conversations on fall Sundays at my church are all about football and nothing about the things of the Lord. But then in my hometown church there are more conversations about the Cardinals during the summer, so I guess following sports is not just a regional thing, just not always associated with a liberal state institution.

  10. Spot on! My fundy pastor would follow Ohio State with a passion but would he allow his kids to go there? Nope.

    But at least the fundies are consistent: they are always inconsistent.

  15. @Nathan – Ohio State is also known as Southwestern Michigan 🙂

    @reader mo – The Huskers are going…to the Big Ten!

  16. Oh this is so true. I grew up right next to U of I. We were all fans. Another interesting point of absurdity is that most Fundamentalist colleges don’t even have football teams. I always got the picture it was partly out of spiritual conviction, maybe I was wrong. And yet they’ll watch it on Sunday and root for their team.

    I remember going to a few games at the U of I growing up. We usually sat in the end zone not a bad place to spy on the cheerleaders 😉

  17. Oh and Fighting Illini all the way, even if you can’t call them that anymore.

    Hey and if the Big *10* expands how does that work? I mean do you still call the conference the Big *10* if there are now 11?

  20. I grew up not being “from” anywhere in the US. As such I’ve never really rooted for anybody in college ball.

    I am, however, wearing my Eagles shirt at work today.

  21. @Mark Big 10 will have 12 when they get Nebraska. But they are just typical traditional midwesterners and won’t be changing their names if they have 25 teams! 🙂

    @Reader Mo I look forward to the Illini beating Nebraska in a couple of years and gloating! 🙂

    @Mark PS Fighting Illini stayed the name (they convinced the NCAA it was based on Illinoisans not native americans. I personally always enjoyed the chief, but it really was time to retire him. I for one didn’t want to be like the idiotic Redskins & Cleveland Indians fans clinging to a racist icon/name/etc cause we “don’t mean it like that”. They’ll always be my team regardless of name/mascot/etc. Os-cee-wow-wow!

    1. In some cases the PC sentiment really goes crazy: I heard that the Seminole tribe submitted an amicus curae brief when the issue of Florida State’s mascot came to court, stating that the tribe actually gets licensing and merchandise revenue from the university’s use of its name. Likewise, the San Diego State Aztecs (named for an Indian nation about 1400 miles from San Diego) were cited by actual Aztecs as being one of the few positive pieces of publicity that group gets (the school kept the name, but redesigned their mascot and logo to be less offensive).

  23. @RobM

    You said “Fighting Illini stayed the name”

    Oh yea…I remember that now. I didn’t have a problem with them throwing out the half time racist dance, though games aren’t as much fun during half time now because of it 🙂 but I failed to see how the depiction of the chief was racist. Anyway I still proudly wear my chief shirt whenever I get the chance.

    By the way, everyone, Basketball is where it is at. Football is a nice fall distraction, but March Madness is where it is at. All the way!

  24. @Mark

    I think the one we attended didn’t have it because of the cost and liability. Having said that they did have a football team back in the days (go swamp angels) when they were smaller and they do now have organized flag football.

    —-

    Interestingly there are a lot of professors that I know that have grad degrees from secular colleges. But I guess there is a difference between undergrad and grad school.

    PS I don’t like football…but I’ll say go UNC in basketball!

  25. If you knew how much preparation went into the Chief and how respectful the students who organized the dance and all of the story behind that you wouldn’t think it was racist. The Chief was a respected symbol of Illinois Indian heritage. It’s sad that political correctness got in the way.

  26. Love it!!! Being from NC, the UNC, NC State and Duke rivalries always caused heated discussions in the youth group!

    @ Mark – Back in the 70’s, we were told that BJU didn’t have intramural football because the insurance was too expensive.

  27. Ohio State is also known as Southwestern Michigan

    Heresy! Down to the Wolverines! 😛

    Another interesting point of absurdity is that most Fundamentalist colleges don’t even have football teams. I always got the picture it was partly out of spiritual conviction, maybe I was wrong.

    I always assumed it was because football is a pretty expensive sport for a school to have and most fundy schools don’t have that kind of money lying around. Heck, the 25,000+ student state university I attended for grad school doesn’t have a football team for that very reason, and they’re much better financed than most fundy schools.

  28. A lot of fundies think school sports are a waste of time when people should be out soul winning, or spending 90 minutes reading their Bibles or praying.

    I have one thing to say: Tim Tebow

  29. @Rob: If you were go to an Indian reservation and go to a high school you will see that the mascot is Indian themed. At least that’s how it was when I went to one on a mission trip. Unless your just talking about the mascot. Do American Indian’s find it offensive?

  30. @Susan,

    Our school had sports but not cheerleaders because of modesty concerns and “loud women” concerns. However, when other schools came to play at our school, we were yelled at for not cheering loud enough or enthusiastically enough for our team from the sidelines.

  31. @Phil I doubt you can say that *all* native americans are on either side. IMO enough consider it offensive that I supported changing mascots, names, etc. There’s no need to imply that all native americans are warriors, or savages or whatever. I love the Illini, and don’t like the idea of offending a group just cause it’s a nice emotional ceremony. I wasn’t ever campaigning against, was just glad when it changed, and think the other teams should change too. Tons of great logos/mascots that don’t offend, or stereotype peoples.

  35. BTW, Darrell, I always envisioned you playing softball for a team called the “1611 Translators” more than the “Fighting Fundies”! 🙂

  36. Living in the Bay Area, most people at my IFB church would gladly have their children attend Stanford or Santa Clara University (but that’ll never happen). A few attend San Jose State, but they’re never on ESPN for anything, so they don’t count.

  37. BTW, My absolute favorite example of this ever is my northern Indiana fundy friends who are Notre Dame football & basketball season tickets holders. I love that.

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