I know you're being sarcastic, but isn't that a bit harsh calling OSU fans "bandwagon" fans? I assume you feel the same about all the UM fans around you? I root for both OSU and Kent, but I guess I'm allowed because I attended both "GD universities." Most of the OSU fans I know have been fans for as long as I've known them so I wouldn't call them "bandwagon" and a lot of them now attend MAC schools in Ohio.
Would it make you feel better if the likes of OSU and UM moved up to some sort of super school conference instead of us moving down? Oh, wait...the effect would be the same, wouldn't it? Regardless, like it or not, MAC teams will never be on the same recruiting or financial field as they are and my only hope is that the NCAA understands that when they set about assigning D1 status based on revenue and attendance.
The fact of the matter is you are allowed to root for whomever you want. Rooting for OSU does not make you less of a Kent State fan. I do both. I attend both games. My friends who never went to college are OSU fans, but ahve a great time at KEnt games. It doesn't matter.
I am tired of the argument that you can't root for a school that you didn't attend. Why not? I never played for the Browns, but I root for them.
If you don't want to root for Kent State, or wherever you went, that's fine. Rooting for Kent is hard to do. The team sucks, always have, probably always will. Just because we are MAC fans, doesn't mean we can't be another school's fan too. That doesn't make you less of a man.
How about we stop judging people for whom they root for. If you get some simple enjoyment out of watching OSU or Michigan, great. If you get more enjoyment out of sitting by yourself at Dix stadium on a Saturday, fine too. I'll wave at you from the beer line.
There is nothing wrong with being a bandwagon fan. Really, there isn't. If you enjoy seeing a team win, and hate seeing them lose, that's cool. We spend too much time wrapping ourselves in our fanhood. Enjoy the games, root for your team, or another team, doesn't matter.
imradioboy Wrote:The fact of the matter is you are allowed to root for whomever you want. Rooting for OSU does not make you less of a Kent State fan. I do both. I attend both games. My friends who never went to college are OSU fans, but ahve a great time at KEnt games. It doesn't matter.
I am tired of the argument that you can't root for a school that you didn't attend. Why not? I never played for the Browns, but I root for them.
If you don't want to root for Kent State, or wherever you went, that's fine. Rooting for Kent is hard to do. The team sucks, always have, probably always will. Just because we are MAC fans, doesn't mean we can't be another school's fan too. That doesn't make you less of a man.
How about we stop judging people for whom they root for. If you get some simple enjoyment out of watching OSU or Michigan, great. If you get more enjoyment out of sitting by yourself at Dix stadium on a Saturday, fine too. I'll wave at you from the beer line.
There is nothing wrong with being a bandwagon fan. Really, there isn't. If you enjoy seeing a team win, and hate seeing them lose, that's cool. We spend too much time wrapping ourselves in our fanhood. Enjoy the games, root for your team, or another team, doesn't matter.
If you went to a school then you should be a fan of them first and foremost before being a fan of another school you didn't go to. I'm sure many Ohio State fans are bandwagoners, just like Notre Dame fans. People jump on these bandwagons because its easy. People like to watch and root for good teams. I understand that, but its far too easy to root for a school like Ohio State or ND. It takes an even stronger fan to root for their alma mater even if their history and success is limited. One more Ohio State fan means nothing. There's already plenty of them. However, one more KSU fan means something far more.
When Akron played at OSU last season, most of my campus was rooting for their own school to lose. Same thing happened at Kent when Kent played them.
That's a problem. Just like it's a problem that people can think that it's OK to do that.
Liam, they really can't help themselves. Due to the inordinate media attention that these schools get, from the time kids are born they are bombarded that if they live in Ohio they must be OSU fans (because everybody else is - it's a "state pride" thing) and the same goes for UM in Michigan.
Snoopy makes a good point - it is easy to be a fan of the school that gets the most attention and is a power but much harder to be a fan of the place that you chose as the location to get your education, especially if they have little tradition of success. There are probably a number of students at MAC schools that REALLY wanted to go to UM or OSU but couldn't get in but they still cling to their love for the place that they never attended.
We all have different perspectives and we can all choose to mock those who attend MAC schools but swear allegiance to a Big Ten school first and foremost or we can decide that it matters not (to me) and everybody can root for whomever they want. Yes, even those who never went to college can pick his favorite winner and be a boorish bandwagon fan.
But let's be realistic for a moment - MAC schools are seldom the first choice of those kids thinking of college unless they have a special program unavailable elsewhere or extremely highly ranked. But in reality, I knew few h.s. seniors or college freshmen that really knew what they wanted to do with their lives. For me WMU was my first choice partly because I liked the atmosphere and felt it was a good fit for me but I may be an anomaly. More importantly, the kind of thinking exhibited above (MAC student, Big Ten school fan) is why our league struggles to bust out of the small time mentality. Enormous State U. is easy to like, it takes no effort. Lemmings.
It's an individual thing and people are free to think what they want in this country.
Too bad for KSU that their football is so bad that their students won't support it. Maybe KSU should take their bball program and go searching for nirvana where they wouldn't need to be bothered and leave the rest of us alone. I suspect that those opinions expressed about MAC football are that of only a few KSU fans, too!
Just like we can always expect to read a few bizarre threads here each month about some expansion/realignment scheme by a few Ohio posters who inhabit their own planet, we also seem to have a recurring theme (bi-annually) coming from one or two KSU fans about: a) the MAC spends too much on football; b) the MAC schools should drop football and concentrate on hoops.
Predictable, like the seasons. In the off season when there is not much to talk about it can be entertaining - sometimes.
Fans don't dictate university policy. Virtually everyone at KSU who has the power and influence to direct where the university might go athletically from the president on down is 100% behind strengthening the football program. There is no other plan. The football program will improve or the current regime will be shown the door. There is zero discussion on changing conferences, dropping down a division, dropping football. None. But I guess it helps some people pass the time here.
letch0125 Wrote:I know you're being sarcastic, but isn't that a bit harsh calling OSU fans "bandwagon" fans? I assume you feel the same about all the UM fans around you? I root for both OSU and Kent, but I guess I'm allowed because I attended both "GD universities." Most of the OSU fans I know have been fans for as long as I've known them so I wouldn't call them "bandwagon" and a lot of them now attend MAC schools in Ohio.
Since you're an alum of both schools; are you more offended by...
a) Apathetic Kent grads
or
b) People who couldn't successfully get through the admissions application to OSU but claim to be Buckeye fans.
Bandwagon fans and if you want to create a separate category for them fans of a school who went to another school cheapen the sport. I don't care for the BigTen but I love college football. I don't like having it shoved down my throat 365 days a year by non college graduates, or MAC graduates/BigTen fans. It sickens me, it holds our conference back, and over values the stupid bigten. So no I don't respect your right to root for a big time bcs program if you didn't go there. Especially if you went to an Ohio MAC school and root for Ohio State. The Ohio State thing is over the top. Ohio has lots of D1 programs and pro sports teams. There is no reason for every child born in Ohio to root for that program. At least in Michigan we have 2 bigten schools to balance it out.
UT Astrophysics Wrote:letch0125 Wrote:I know you're being sarcastic, but isn't that a bit harsh calling OSU fans "bandwagon" fans? I assume you feel the same about all the UM fans around you? I root for both OSU and Kent, but I guess I'm allowed because I attended both "GD universities." Most of the OSU fans I know have been fans for as long as I've known them so I wouldn't call them "bandwagon" and a lot of them now attend MAC schools in Ohio.
Since you're an alum of both schools; are you more offended by...
a) Apathetic Kent grads
or
b) People who couldn't successfully get through the admissions application to OSU but claim to be Buckeye fans.
Why would I be "offended" by either? I just have a minor problem with someone labeling OSU fans "bandwagon" fans. To answer your question:
a) Nope - not grads. The grads already did their time, hopefully attended their fair share of events while they were there, and are now probably giving money in some capacity. Those of us who stay in the area are probably attending some games - ever been by the Blue and Gold room before games? Who do you think those people are?
b) Never - I wish more people who couldn't successfully get through the admissions application to Kent would become Flash fans, and hopefully
when we start winning some they will! So how could I in all fairness have a problem with them being Buckeye fans?
I would add another choice, "apathetic students," which I think was the original point of the thread, and that would be my choice.
Liam9903 Wrote:I don't care for the BigTen but I love college football. I don't like having it shoved down my throat 365 days a year by non college graduates, or MAC graduates/BigTen fans. It sickens me, it holds our conference back, and over values the stupid bigten. So no I don't respect your right to root for a big time bcs program if you didn't go there. Especially if you went to an Ohio MAC school and root for Ohio State. The Ohio State thing is over the top. Ohio has lots of D1 programs and pro sports teams.
Why should you care who anybody roots for? It doesn't cheapen the MAC, crappy football cheapens the MAC. Not winning OOC games cheapens the MAC. Kent, EMU, Buffalo and other bottom feeder programs cheapen the MAC. It has nothing to do with the fact that there are Kent Alums that root for the Flashes and the Buckeyes.
Hardcore MAC-only fans kind of remind me of Soccer fans. I like soccer as well as football; but there are many soccer fans who go out of their way to trash American football, and how much better their sport is. You can like both. Football doesn't have to be black and white in terms of fan support.
For example: If I graduated from Kent, but rooted for, say, Syracuse or Memphis, does that cheapen the Big East or C-USA?
When Kent State's football team is not the favorite team of Kent State fans, students, and alumni it makes Kent State worse, it makes the conference worse, and it makes my team who is in the same conference worse by association. It helps make the BigTen the financial juggernaut it is by increasing their profile and revenue. Revenue which they can use to build massive and unecessay player lounges, exorbinate practice facilities, and stadium improvments and expansion. They also can get into an arms race for coaches driving salaries up across the board. It perpetuates the competative imbalance at the top of the sport making the sport worse. It makes it harder for the schools we care about to compete financialy and on the field , and harder to attract fans as a result of that competative gap. It takes the sport to near professional heights at the top and leaves a permanent underclass to try and deal with the discrepency and justify its existance to morons who think you have to be Ohio State or Youngstown State at the bottom. College sports is not pro sports we owe the Universities that supported us proper fan support, and we owe nothing but contempt to the BCS cartel and their legions of partialy educated bandwagon supporters that keep us in the sports lower tier.
Liam9903 Wrote:When Kent State's football team is not the favorite team of Kent State fans, students, and alumni it makes Kent State worse, it makes the conference worse, and it makes my team who is in the same conference worse by association. It helps make the BigTen the financial juggernaut it is by increasing their profile and revenue. Revenue which they can use to build massive and unecessay player lounges, exorbinate practice facilities, and stadium improvments and expansion. They also can get into an arms race for coaches driving salaries up across the board. It perpetuates the competative imbalance at the top of the sport making the sport worse. It makes it harder for the schools we care about to compete financialy and on the field , and harder to attract fans as a result of that competative gap. It takes the sport to near professional heights at the top and leaves a permanent underclass to try and deal with the discrepency and justify its existance to morons who think you have to be Ohio State or Youngstown State at the bottom. College sports is not pro sports we owe the Universities that supported us proper fan support, and we owe nothing but contempt to the BCS cartel and their legions of partialy educated bandwagon supporters that keep us in the sports lower tier.
Boise State spends less money on athletics than Miami of Ohio and Temple.Boise spent about $1.5 million more in 2007 than CMU.OSU didn't keep them out of the BCS Bowls or stop them from beating Oklahoma in January 2007.
I'm not saying its not possible for us(the MAC) to win football games at the D1 level. I'm not saying its not possible to have undefeated and nationaly ranked teams. I'm saying that that effort is hurt by those who should be our fans gloming on to the local BCS program.
Would Boise State be a football success if their students, alumni, and local community didn't show up to games because they were home watching the stupid buckeyes on TV, or in Columbus with a big red sweatshirt pretending they went to school there? I don't think so.
Liam9903 Wrote:I'm not saying its not possible for us(the MAC) to win football games at the D1 level. I'm not saying its not possible to have undefeated and nationaly ranked teams. I'm saying that that effort is hurt by those who should be our fans gloming on to the local BCS program.
Would Boise State be a football success if their students, alumni, and local community didn't show up to games because they were home watching the stupid buckeyes on TV, or in Columbus with a big red sweatshirt pretending they went to school there? I don't think so.
Kent has put a bad/mediocre team on the football field
for 30+ years with the exception of a few years like '87.
You can't expect fans to like losing.A Bowl trip or playing in the MACC
would quickly bring the Golden Flash fans back onboard.
Liam9903 Wrote:College sports is not pro sports we owe the Universities that supported us proper fan support,
We don't OWE a University anything. I gave Kent State thousands of my hard earned dollars as a student, an tax money to all the public universities in the state as long as I have been working. What more do I OWE any school. If anything, they owe me and every other taxpayer in the state that wants to use their services.
I'm not saying that supporting your alma mater is wrong. I am saying that it is OK to like schools you didn't go to. I like Ohio State mostly because of all the great Saturday's I've spent with my family and friends around the TV watching the games. That is ultimately what sports are all about.
I am very proud of my Kent State education. I support their football and basketball programs, so do many of my friends that never went there. But watching the Buckeyes doesn't worsen my affinity for Kent.
imradioboy Wrote:But watching the Buckeyes doesn't worsen my affinity for Kent.
Yes, yes it does. You have sinned... now go ask Chryst for forgiveness and hope your penance isn't too harsh.
It worsens Kent State if you take it to far...Watching a game on TV is one thing. It is the priority you place on it. Are you missing home games at Kent to watch the suckeyes on TV? Are you wearing OSU gear, going to their games, watching hours and hours of the BTN? Who do you follow more closely? Which loses hit you hardest? Where does your money go if at all? Those are the kinds of things that make a fanbase. If you contribute more ficnancialy and emotionaly to Ohio State than your own alma mater then you are part of the problem and suffer from some kind of self hatred. If you watch it on TV who cares its not like you could avoid it, but if you are a rabid fan of a college football program and ignore the program at the college you graduated from that also plays at the D1 level then there is no defense for that.
Liam9903 Wrote:I'm not saying its not possible for us(the MAC) to win football games at the D1 level. I'm not saying its not possible to have undefeated and nationaly ranked teams. I'm saying that that effort is hurt by those who should be our fans gloming on to the local BCS program.
Would Boise State be a football success if their students, alumni, and local community didn't show up to games because they were home watching the stupid buckeyes on TV, or in Columbus with a big red sweatshirt pretending they went to school there? I don't think so.
Boise State football is the only show in town in Boise. Actually, its the only show in the state of Idaho. Boise is Idaho's Ohio State, Michigan, etc.
