Do you root for your alma mater?

Eh, I try to make a point of checking out my school's score every Saturday.

Back in 2001, when I was working a different kind of job for a while, I actually got back to the old school – I-AA when I was there, now a formerly-known-as-I-A school – for a few games. Took the wife to a game last season as part of an alumni function. That's about it.

I never even think to check up on my old high school, until playoff times rolls around. And I haven't been back there since I got out of college, except once when I was scouting a team that was playing there.

 

Yeah, I do. Not as much as my friends think I should, but I do.

 

Funny story about this. In a previous life about eight years ago I dated a Penn State alum. One night we went outto dinner to an Applebees or a TGIWlatdays or something and she had on a PSU sweatshirt. We're sitting in that waiting area they all have and some guy says to her, "did you go to Penn State?" She said yes and he immediately started babbling about the football team and Joe and Brandon SHort and Arrington and blah and blah, and more blah.

After about a minute of this she said, "sir, I'm sorry, but I don't follow the football team."

This guy looked at her like she was from another planet, "Huh? How can you be from PENN STATE and not follow football?"

She said, "I went there for an education, not to be a fan. I don't care."

He walks away like someone shot his dog and I had to walk outside because I couldnt contain my laughter.

 

You bet - going to a home game next month on my off weekend for the first time in seven years.... I buy ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FullCourt to keep up with football and basketball, the whole nine yards.
Of course, I was an Iowa fan before I went there and since my wife has made it clear she doesn't want to move too far from the South, I don't have any problem rooting for them now. It's one of the few exceptions I make as far as being a fan - although I would obviously suspend it if the team I cover now and the Hawks ever met in an event I was covering.

 

Or Baylor.

 

Nah, gotta be Montana State.

 

I went to Ole Miss, so no.

 

Actually pull for Kansas basketball over Missouri. Other than that, though, I don't give a flying fuck.
Last weekend was one of the first football Saturdays I haven't worked in a long time. So I went ot a house party where everyone but my wife and I were going crazy for the team they were watching. No one could understand that I didn't "have" a team to root for.

 

As has been mentioned, I've covered the alma mater several times, and I root for my story. Same when I covered the Packers. I've always been very stoic and militantly objective when I cover something anyway.

 

Since I don't cover Mizzou (or the Chiefs or Royals), yes, I root for them. That passion is what got me into this business to start with. The stuff I cover, I root for a great atmosphere and a great story. I love a great ending.

But to me, nothing is just as pure fun as having an emotional investment in a game. Maybe it's different because I'm six hours from home and I don't get to see the teams as often as I'd like. But I root when I get the chance.. and I don't give a damn about it.

 

Hated every team from my alma mater by the time I graduated and it took me a few years to shake it off. Made a few fellow alums sick when I rooted for our most hated rival as they made a deep run in the NCAAs a few years after I graduated. I didn't like them, just thought the team was fun to watch. Didn't return to the school for about five years after grad and, once I did, became a rabid fan and remain that way. Like DoubleDown said, love of sports is what got me into the business to begin with. To lose that would be kind of sad, but also have a hard time rooting for pro teams. Bottom line is I went to the school and feel connected to it. It's not as much about the teams as the other fans and the passion for the shared experience of having spent many a cold winter's night in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

 

I root for the alma mater, but it's not life or death. And every year the passion wears away a little more. Haven't set foot on campus since '98. Enjoyed their NCAA hoop championship but... I don't know, could be that college was the worst four years of my life.

I guess it's called ambivalence. Or perspective.