Is It Ok To Root For Your Rival In The College Football National Championship?

Big Cat1/13/2015 8:32 PM

So I feel like this is sort of a debate laying in the weeds today after Ohio State won last night. Big Ten fans, myself included, puffing their chests out a little bit and shoving it in the rest of the country’s face. First of all let me say that half of what I said/tweeted was exaggerated to mock SEC fans. I feel like every single year Alabama won a National Championship the rest of the SEC would walk around talking about how great they are. I always laughed at that premise, that because one team won, you all won, and thus why I went a little over the top last night. Throw in the fact that college football is literally all the South has, they barely have modern medicine, and I just had to rub it in a little bit. But the question still remains, is it ok to root for your rival in a national championship game?

Personally I was torn last night and continue to be torn. College Football is the one sport where conference allegiance still matters. Before anyone says would you root for the Cardinals in the World Series or would a Yankee fan root for the Red Sox just realize that analogy makes no sense. College Football is regional based, and each conference plays a distinct style that is unique to their teams. When you make fun of Wisconsin you’re making fun of Purdue and Nebraska. Those same type of styles and regional pride doesn’t really apply to professional sports. You rarely hear someone say “the AFC West sucks” and then have a Raiders or Chiefs fan take offense. And that is exactly where I’m torn. Big Ten fans have spent the past decade getting shat on by the media and other college football fans around the country. Every year we lose our big bowl games, every year we are on the outside looking in for the national championship, and every year we are reminded of this a million times over. So I feel like this specific year it’s ok. The Big Ten needed this. The SEC has treated us like a Triple A league for over 10 years. At some point being told you suck and all your football teams are a step below the rest gets to you, and last night it all came out. I don’t like Ohio State, I still hate their guts, but it felt good for once to be on the other side of the story. Now if OSU makes it back next year I will absolutely not be rooting for them. This one was important to shift the narrative, the next one I can’t handle. Either way Let’s take it to a vote.

1 it’s not ok to root for your rival in the CFB national championship, 10 rooting for your conference in CFB is ok in bowl season.

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