Topic: Conference Pride

[FreebirdSTF]

I've heard several people say that conference pride makes no sense.  "Why would you root for your enemy?" and "I'm a Cowboys fan and I'd never root for the Eagles!" are two of the most prevalent arguments against it.

To me, the unique nature of how we determine champions in big boy college football makes both of those points moot.

Conference pride might be stupid if conference reputation did not matter so much in CFB.  There is zero benefit in rooting for another NFL team to do well simply because they are in your conference.  Unless you need them to beat a team to help you out some way it really is illogical.  In CFB though if the other members of your conference do well it will help you in polling and even with the forthcoming selection committee. 

Now I get why it annoys people.  They think chanting SEC is stupid and more importantly many are simply tired of the SEC losers claiming the SEC winners as it were.  Basically, I think the thing that drives people the most crazy is that a Mississippi State fan will celebrate Alabama or Auburn's national title win.  I get that, but to say that conference pride makes no sense simply isn't accurate based on the system we have.

[FreebirdSTF]

TL; DR version, if you think conference pride is completely illogical in CFB you're not thinking hard enough.

[SupTool]

The only time I don't have conference pride is this season and a couple of seasons back because fuck Auburn and fuck Cam Newton

[Chus-Kay]

yup, i can't understand why people root for their nfl conference when their team is out of the playoffs.  makes no sense.
 
your team competes with every team in their conference to get to the superbowl.  why would you root for them when your team is out?  and sometimes, those people end up rooting for the team that knocked their team out of the playoffs.  wth?
 
no, i root for them to lose unless, in the superbowl, i hate the afc team even more (i'm a niners fan).  but usually that makes me root for bane to show up and implode the field.

[BlackLight]

Conference pride in CFB doesn't make much rational sense, but then I root for Syracuse - so I tend to have drearier outlook than most.

[Jamal]

The only time I don't have conference pride is this season and a couple of seasons back because fuck Auburn and fuck Cam Newton

You should be saying fuck Mark Richt for achieving nothing despite having a state full of talented guys year in and year out but he squanders it each year. He wanted Cam Newton as a TE btw.

[FreebirdSTF]

Conference pride in CFB doesn't make much rational sense, but then I root for Syracuse - so I tend to have drearier outlook than most.

Except it does.  Remember when the talk was "Should a one loss SEC team jump tOSU?"  I don't recall that talk about any other conference.  The SEC gets the benefit of the doubt because they have showed out in the big game.  I think that is why it makes perfect sense that a fan of an SEC school would root for a rival in the BCS Title Game.  Conference reputation does matter in CFB.  For that reason, conference pride makes sense to me.  If it was an NFL style system then I'd agree that it's silly.  That's why the NFL fans trying to compare the two are missing the point.

[BlackLight]

Granted, most of what constitutes sports team fandom is illogical and irrational, but I think this might be especially so.

If you're an Alabama fan and spend your entire life hating Auburn, I don't know how you clear the logical hurdle towards rooting for them to win a BCS Title, just so you can claim a greater point on the supremacy of SEC football.

In CBB, I gave not a single fuck that Louisville won March Madness last season, in terms of how it reflected on Big East basketball. Can you imagine a fan of the Orioles rooting for the Yankees in the World Series, out of some sense of American League divisional pride?

To me, the difference that makes a difference is that no where else in this country is as insanely competitive as it is in the South w/r/t college football. And I think this "conference pride" business is a logical result of that.

[FreebirdSTF]

To me, you could argue that rooting against your own ultimate self-interest is less logical than rooting for a rival.  To be clear, I don't think fans of SEC teams like rooting for their rivals specifically anyway.  There was a Roll Ducks Roll movement by BAMA fans when Auburn took on Oregon back in 2010 (game was in 2011).  They don't have as much issue rooting for the other teams in their conference that they "hate less" though.  It's one of those things, "Yeah, we hate you but we're on your side when you take them on." 

I just don't think it's terribly illogical in the context of the college football polling system where it helps that your conference does well.  It makes no sense anywhere else that I can think of though.  College football is unique though.

[RealMarchHare]

yup, i can't understand why people root for their nfl conference when their team is out of the playoffs.  makes no sense.
 
your team competes with every team in their conference to get to the superbowl.  why would you root for them when your team is out?  and sometimes, those people end up rooting for the team that knocked their team out of the playoffs.  wth?
 
no, i root for them to lose unless, in the superbowl, i hate the afc team even more (i'm a niners fan).  but usually that makes me root for bane to show up and implode the field.

Niners fan myself.   My Dad is from Pittsburgh.  Despite that he was still rooting for the Ravens to win the Superbowl last year just because they are team in the same Conference...hell Division at that point.  He does this all the time.  I have no idea why he has ever rooted for his Divisional rivals

[#60]

Every conference/division/rivalry is different so either the pride or hate you harvest towards whatever team depends on the team, division, etc.

For instance, I could see the Ravens and Steelers rooting for each other. That rivalry is built on many things besides hate. But the Seahawks and 49ers? No way.

Then college is a different animal yet it still depends on which teams you're talking about. I'm a Seminole who could never root for Florida or Miami but I could root for Clemson, who mutilated us before as bad as we did them last season.

[benlinus]

I root for the SEC in the title game because I think it means more money for the conference if they win the game right?

I also root for clemson in every game but the one vs the gamecocks. I think winning the most important clemson vs carolina matchups in the last 4 years in both teams history as been pretty cool.

I do think Clemson rolls the gameocks this year if the cocks do not get much better on defense.

[Chus-Kay]

in college, you kinda WANT to root for teams that your team will play because the better they are, the tougher your team's shedule is and if your team beats them, they get more points...right?

[benlinus]

They get more points in the old BCS standings that is correct.

I can see the argument rooting against your rivals when your rival is in a BCS game and your team is not.

But early in the season it makes no sense for you to want your rival to lose every game. Ohio State wants Michigan to be undefeated at the end of the year and vice versa because the game will have much more importance.