A Nameless Blog

I’ve spent the last two Saturdays watching my Wildcats play football.  Last week, we lost a heartbreaker to Oregon.  This week, we beat our in-state rival, Arizona State, in a game that was far too close.  Both games were fun to watch.  However, I’m finding myself sour on sports — particularly college football — based on the behavior of its fans.

Let me paint the word picture for you from last week.  Arizona was ahead by seven against the 11th-ranked Oregon Ducks with time winding down.  The Ducks were driving and based on their speed and consistency, I was nervous that they would tie the game.  They reached the twenty(ish) yard-line with about forty seconds to go.  Anything could happen here.  Suddenly, our student section decided that this would be a good time to attempt to rush the field, since after all, a one-score lead with the opponent very close to scoring is a surefire victory.  Once they did that, I just thought, “Great.  Now we deserve to lose.”  Guess what happened — Oregon tied the game and eventually won in two overtimes.

I’m not that upset about the game, but I am still steaming about the immaturity and idiocy of the UofA students.  They exhibited a kind of extreme exuberance that abandons all logic and forethought.  They ignored the very real possibility of defeat in favor of a desire to run onto the field and maybe be on national television.  It’s a mindset that doesn’t just confuse me; it appalls me.  First of all, it’s a stupid tradition — your team won unexpectedly, so you’re going to run onto the field and do… what?  Oh yeah — be on TV and let ESPN make it look cool with its overhead shot.  Stupid.  Second of all, shouldn’t the University of Arizona football program be beyond that?  Yes, we’re historically bad, but we’re in a major conference and we were playing a game that everyone agreed was winnable.  Beating Oregon would have been big, but it wouldn’t be like Delaware State beating USC (no, non-fans, that never happened).  Third of all, you don’t try to rush the fucking field when the game is still in doubt.  That the students did so proves that they have no appreciation or knowledge of the game of football.  They just watched some big upset on ESPN Classic, surmised that beating #11 Oregon would be on par, saw a seven-point lead with less than a minute remaining, and assumed that it was time to act just as excited.  You, Arizona students, are uninformed phonies and I am embarrassed to root for the same team as you.

Then came this week.  Like I said, we beat ASU, which is always nice.  But the smack talk between some of the Cats and Devils fans was disgusting.  It’s one thing to belt our your fight song, lustily jeer the opposing team, and hope upon hope that your team will destroy its rival.  That’s good rivalry.  It’s another thing to yell obscenities and intentionally make opposing fans feel bad.  Wearing red doesn’t mean I’m a faggot — it means I went to a different school.

What gets me is the number of ASU fans who yelled insulting things to us UofA fans after the game.  Yep, some of them kept shit-talking even after they lost.  Things like, “enjoy the (insert bowl game that isn’t the Rose) Bowl!” or something about losing to Oregon.  Okay, yeah, we didn’t make the Rose Bowl or beat Oregon.  Um… did you come even close to either?  That’s not just rude, it’s silly.  Also, I still think we had a pretty good year — I’m happy that we’re going to a somewhat decent bowl game and that we beat ASU.  It’s had some disappointments, but this year has given me more reason to remain optimistic about the Mike Stoops era.  Dumping on my general contentment doesn’t make sense.

What confused me the most, though, were the UofA fans who bothered to respond to such drunken idiocy.  Do you think shouting a half-thought version of the above paragraph will change this asshole’s mind?  Is pointless confrontation somehow thrilling to you?  Show some class in victory, fans.  We won the game; we should be happy.  Let us ignore the jerk-offs, enjoy the win, and look forward to another good game next year.

Ugh.  I love and hate college football.  The pomp, the circumstance, the bands, the speed, the strategy, the personalities, the beer, the tailgating, and the friendly rivalry make it so much fun.  Then again, there are those who take it too emotionally, who lack decorum and good sense, who use it as an excuse to act poorly.  Those people have made college football — and life — a little less fun for me every year.

In case you were keeping track, this marks yet another step on my way to complete anti-social hermitism.  Thanks, college football fans.

-Darrell

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.