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03 September 2010
This was a topic of discussion I had been thinking about a few times last college football season. A friend of mine, let's call him Mike, brought up the topic again right at the start of the 2010 season. Mike went to a rival school of mine and he posed the question to me, "Do you get more joy out of your rival losing than you do out of your own team winning?" The sad part is I didn't really have an answer for him at the time.
Over the last several years the team I cheer for has been playing mediocre football at best while Mike's team has been playing extremely well. I won't mention the teams (although I'm sure it's not hard to figure out) since I don't want you to focus on that specific rivalry, but rather rivalries in general and your own personal feelings. Think of your team and then think of your team's rival. Next I will pose a situation for you, let's assume your team is 6-4 on the season and the rival is 10-0. Both teams have a game that following Saturday. Are you going to be more excited to watch your team potentially win its 7th game, perhaps a completely meaningless game, or are you going to be cheering for the rival squad to lose and fall to 10-1 and potentially end it's chance at a national title run?
Unfortunately, my answer was, I would be wearing the jersey of the rival's opponent at the bar. I just pray that both games are not on at the same time and I have to choose. You see, it gets to the point over so many years that you seek enjoyment in any way you can and when your own team is not providing that enjoyment with wins you want everyone else around you to feel the same way. You might say, "Hey Joe, I'm really glad Penn State is doing well this year.", but let's face it, you hope Penn State crashes and burns harder than your team. It's just the nature of sports and competition. People talk about sportsmanship, but let's be honest we are not actually out on the field so we can say and do whatever the hell we want and I'll be damned if I am going to be a good sport and actually be glad when a rival plays a good quality game and wins.
The misery I feel after another season of disappointment can only be rectified with a victory over a rival, especially at the end of a season. It is even sweeter if that rival is actually in contention for something and my team ruins it. So the next question I had for myself and will now pose to you. Would you rather you team finish 11-1 during the regular season with that 1 loss to your rival or 9-3 with a victory over your rival. Obviously you would have to know all the conditions of the situation, but unless my team had a sure fire shot at getting to the national title game I would accept 2 more losses in exchange for the victory over the rival. Pretty pathetic right? I suppose my judgment may be skewed because in my particular situation the rival has had the upper hand for awhile.
Perhaps my outlook would change with one simple win, but for now I can only hope for the worst for the rival school. I don't even care if that results in a huge scandal and that school getting the NCAA "death penalty". Either way, I'll be cheering for them to lose and as soon as they do Mike will be the first person I call. God I hate that bastard.
