Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

So my blog today really won't be so much about today like most of my "Note-o-the-day" blogs are... but rather it will be about something that's been on my mind for a long time and I've meant to write down before.  A list of the hierarchy of which college athletics programs I root for when they play each other.  This has changed slightly now that the entire landscape of college athletics has changed.  The new major conference realignment has really irritated me... mostly because of how long-standing traditions are ending and how conferences now will not make geographic sense anymore.  Everything is about money.  But anyways... time to begin explaining my "List" so that anyone can tell which sports team I root for in any given match-up. 

Now, this is just for college sports, but really they are my favorite of the sports.  The NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL... they are all secondary to me.  Of course my favorite team is Iowa State.  They are what I grew up cheering for, where I went to school, where I met my lovely and wonderful wife... the epitome of all that is good.  They top the list for obvious reasons.

In contrast, my least favorite team is Iowa State's arch-rival... the Iowa Hawkeyes.  As far as I'm concerned, they could lose every sporting event they play for the next 100 years, all by horrible blowouts, and I would still cheer against them.  It would be fine if they kept losing so often that they were forced to sell the university to ISU and rename the university... something like Iowa State University East.  Only then would I consider rooting for them.  

Next on the list I consider which conference my favorite team is in and which my most hated team is in.  My rule is that I will always root for teams in the Big 12 when they are playing other schools, and I will root against teams from the Big 10.  This has all changed a little now that the conferences are undergoing realignment.  So if you are keeping score at home, your scorecard should look something like this so far:
1. Iowa State
2. All Big 12 Schools
3. Any other school not in either the Big 12 or Big 10
4. All Big 10 Schools except for Iowa
5. Iowa

The thing of it is, Nebraska just moved from the Big 12 to the Big 10, Colorado left for the Pac-12, Missouri will leave for the SEC, and Texas A&M will move to the SEC as well.  Since I hate the original Big 10, I now root for Nebraska to beat all of the original Big 10 teams.  However, I do not root for Colorado against the Pac-12.  Colorado has now earned themselves a "traitor" badge for defecting the Big 12.  All the other Pac 12 teams may now beat the shit out of the Buffaloes and it is fine with me.  The same will go for Missouri and Texas A&M now that they have left. 

Going even further into my complicated rooting system, I address some special teams which I dislike for varrying reasons.  First, I dislike Michigan State.  The Spartans can suck it for beating Iowa State in the 2000 NCAA tounament when we had Marcus Fizer and Jamal Tinsley.  It was firmly my belief that if we would have won that game (which was very close, and unfortunately played in the state of Michigan... not exactly a neutral site), Iowa State would have been the best team left in the Final Four and would have went on to win the national championship.  So Michigan State is on the shit list.  I have since been a little more pleased with them when the ISU women beat them a couple years ago in their NCAA meeting to earn an Elite Eight birth. 

Other teams that are on my shit list include: Hampton (don't remind me), North Carolina (they've beat us a couple times in the tourney... but this doesn't mean that I root for Duke when they play), UCLA (only minor hate now since ISU won the most recent NCAA tourney meeting between the two), Alabama (I still think the field goal was good and that we should have won the Independence bowl), Boise State (they beat a Seneca-led ISU squad), Rutgers (beat us in an NIT game, and other reasons), TCU (they beat us in the Houston Bowl... which Elizabeth and I went to in 2005), Florida State (two people that I despise root for them). 

Now once TCU and West Virginia are added to the Big 12 next year I will naturally start rooting for them when they play teams from other conferences, but I will want all original members of the Big 12 to beat them.  In fact, I still prefer members of the old Big 8 to beat the Texas teams that were added to make the Big 12. 

Other teams worth a mention... I prefer Drake and UNI over most teams just because they are from Iowa and are not the Hawkeyes... also when given the rare chance I may also root for Northwestern State (they beat the Hawks when Iowa was a #3 seed and they were a #14 seed... in the same year ISU beat them), also I like Ivy League teams a little just because I've followed them for no reason in the past, and because they have the athletic disadvantage of requiring intelligence to go there.  Specifically, I like Brown because my cousin went there, and then the Dartmouth Big Green... for no good reason.  Differences in any other meeting between teams not-yet mentioned I probably don't care that much about, and my rooting would depend on other factors (who is ranked, is there a player or coach that I like/dislike, etc).  So to try and put this all together (starting once the new leagues are formed):

1.  Iowa State  ...and since they are the only team I truly care about I will number the next teams...
100. A) Northern Iowa B) Drake
101. A) Kansas B) Kansas State C) Oklahoma D) Oklahoma State
102. A) Baylor B) Texas Tech C) Texas
103. A) West Virginia B) TCU

200. A) Brown B) Dartmouth C) Other Ivy schools
201. A) Northwestern State B) Any small teams which have recently beaten the Hawkeyes

300. Any other school not otherwise mentioned... the true neutral spot on the list.

500. Rutgers
501. Boise State
502. UCLA
503. Hampton
504. North Carolina
505. Alabama

600. Florida State (I really don't like a couple people)

700. Nebraska
701. Other Big 10 Teams besides Nebraska, Michigan State, or Iowa

800. Michigan State

1000.  Iowa Hawkeyes