From ESPN.com's "Page 2": Time for the new rules for college football fandom
8. If a team from your conference makes the BCS title game and is a sworn rival, you cannot root for that team. Not now. Not ever. Not even if under duress, gunpoint or waterboarding in an Eastern European black site CIA detention center.
8a. Michigan fans should not have been rooting for Ohio State in the national title game. That's just wrong. And, frankly, a little sick.
So, I count Toledo and Miami as our sworn rivals. A fan of BG can NEVER root for either of these schools.
The major difference, of course, being that we are not drooling idiots like the majority of OSU and UM fans. Additionally, we are not members of a conference that we, collectively, have deemed "better than everyone."
Do not use the Big 11 as your barometer. For anything.
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From ESPN.com's "Page 2": Time for the new rules for college football fandom
8. If a team from your conference makes the BCS title game and is a sworn rival, you cannot root for that team. Not now. Not ever. Not even if under duress, gunpoint or waterboarding in an Eastern European black site CIA detention center.
8a. Michigan fans should not have been rooting for Ohio State in the national title game. That's just wrong. And, frankly, a little sick.
So, I count Toledo and Miami as our sworn rivals. A fan of BG can NEVER root for either of these schools.
This is something I've never really understood. Why is Miami considered to be a big rival of Bowling Green? It's almost like Miami and Toledo are sometimes considered on the same plane as rivals, which doesn't make sense to me. Miami and BG weren't even in the same division of the MAC until 2005, so how did Miami-BG become such tradition? Is it simply us and them being good every year? (exception for 2006)
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There may be an aspect that goes back to hockey. Them and OSU are considered our biggest rivals in hockey. I've heard stories about those OSU games where there was no room in the locker room and guys had to be sent to the locker room for their penalties.
bgsufalcon24 wrote:
This is something I've never really understood. Why is Miami considered to be a big rival of Bowling Green? It's almost like Miami and Toledo are sometimes considered on the same plane as rivals, which doesn't make sense to me. Miami and BG weren't even in the same division of the MAC until 2005, so how did Miami-BG become such tradition? Is it simply us and them being good every year? (exception for 2006)
You'll find that among many in the older crowd, Miami is hated with the intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns. Most of it extends from the Miami-Whammy, the inability to beat them in football and basketball in the seventies into the eighties. If I had a choice of never losing again to either Toledo or Miami, I'd choose Miami.
Rollo83 wrote: What about at the end of the season when we are fighting one of our "breathern" for a possible bowl bid? A loss here or there comes up big in late-November when bids are handed out.
Exactly. It's a small pie, and every piece they consume takes something away from us.
We compete against Miami and Toledo on a daily basis for recruits, media coverage and a million other things. Cheering for them to succeed so they can turn around and use that against BG in recruiting and potential bowl marketing is something I won't do.
I guess I also don't have the detatchment to passionately root for a team one week and passionately root against them a few weeks later.
There are those around that consider Miami a much bigger rival than UT. I'm told in the mid-90's the miami games were always more intense than the UT games.
The rivalry goes both ways too, I worked at a retirement comunity for a long time in Hudson Ohio, several of the residents there were miami alumni, and they absolutely hated BG. These are people who graduated back in the 50's and 60's, so its not like its a brand new thing between us.
The Niz wrote:There are those around that consider Miami a much bigger rival than UT. I'm told in the mid-90's the miami games were always more intense than the UT games.
The rivalry goes both ways too, I worked at a retirement comunity for a long time in Hudson Ohio, several of the residents there were miami alumni, and they absolutely hated BG. These are people who graduated back in the 50's and 60's, so its not like its a brand new thing between us.
Niz, As a member of that group who "graduated in the 60'" I can verify that Miami was a MUCH bigger rival (for us) than Toledo.... even then, we had a tough time beating them, and when we did, it was news!
That said, I think most "Miami ans" would consider OU to be THEIR biggest rival today, notwithstanding the East division/West division "swing" that BG did for the conference.
Education our Challenge, Excellence our goal. (look it up)
First off... our Rivals or our Alleged Rivals include OU, Ball State, Bowling Green, and Toledo. Now just about everyone else hates us for some reason or another... something to do with 650+ all time football wins has to be it.
Now as for who we consider a rival... we consider rivals that have the ability to beat us more than twice out of every ten games.. therefor... out goes Ball State and Ohio... although they claim the rivalary. Also OU can never claim to be a rival when they have gone almost 40 years since winning a MAC championship... therefore their five year rebuilding program continues 35+ years later.
Most Miamians say 1st its UC, then a distant 2nd OU.... after that its a toss up for anyone else to jump on that band wagon.
BG is a nice game everytime and I want to puke everytime I think of the Tornado game... one of the worst performances if not worst performance I have ever seen by a Miami team in any sport.
Lord_Byron wrote:If I had a choice of never losing again to either Toledo or Miami, I'd choose Miami.
Ditto. I remember Toledo leaving a modest trace on the radar screen, and Miami cracking the damned thing. Then again, as someone said, the hockey may have helped to colour this perspective. Miami was the big one, and they kept ruining the party. Slamming them on the gridiron down at Oxford in the not too distant past after waiting 2 hours for the game to start meant an AWFUL lot to me.
One should always root for the lesser of two weavils. In this case that isn't Miami against Minnesota (of couse we don't want Miami to do well) It is Miami agains the Big10.
It is Miami agains the Big10. 