I wrote the following brief little diatribe last year and never got around to cleaning it up and posting it anywhere. It's my gut reaction to the concept of "conference loyalty" that many of my fellow football followers espouse. It seems appropriate to post it today, so here it is in its first-draft glory.
"I don't care about so-called "conference loyalty." I spend all season hating the other 11 teams Georgia has to face. The last thing I want is for one of them to have the Ultimate Bragging Rights of a national title to, you know, brag about all spring and summer. Unless the title game is against, like, USC or Notre Dame, I'm going for whoever can shut the likes of LSU, Alabama, Florida, and yes, even Auburn up. Cheering for an SEC team that isn't yours in the title game tells me you aren't putting enough energy into year-round loyalty to your own team. Remember what that one guy said - no man can serve two masters. Unfortunately you can't count on the bums out there in the Big Ten, Big 12, or Pac 10 to come through."
That being said, as an SEC team that isn't Georgia happens to be playing in the Championship Game this time against Notre Dame - a team I delight in rooting against more than pretty much any other team - I have no choice but to say, "Roll Tide." This time.
Georgia's 11-1 regular season is impressive, but it's more impressive that it came in the SEC. Unless, of course, the SEC ups and loses a bunch of bowl games. Then, that 11-1 season loses the "SEC bump."
ReplyDeleteA win over a big rival in Jacksonville is cheapened if that team loses its bowl game to a Big East team. Instead of your team being better than the team that beat Louisville, you're now simply on par with Louisville.
And, had things conspired to have kept Notre Dame out of the title game -- suppose they had lost that overtime game to Pittsburgh (who, by the way, had their butts handed to them by a 6-6 SEC team in a bowl) -- and, say, Oregon had been Alabama's opponent, your logic would be that, rather than having lost to the national champions by five yards, you'd rather have lost to a lesser team.
Alabama's win against anybody makes Georgia's loss look better.
After all the games are played, if my team isn't the national champs, I'd rather look at the world and say, "The teams we beat were great, and the teams that beat us were great, which is why I say we're great," and not "The teams we beat suck, and the teams that beat us suck, so I guess we suck, too."