Monday May 19, 2008

What Scenarios Change Your Routine?

What Scenarios Change Your Routine?
I had planned a blog today on Clemson's chances in the ACC tournament, the chances of getting into the NCAA tournament and the long-term future of the baseball program. All of that changed around 6:35 this morning.

On my radio show this morning, our first call of the week came from Bill in Greenwood. Bill calls occasionally and I recognized his voice when he mentioned he was a Georgia Bulldog fan. For the next few minutes Bill cried about Georgia's schedule and how difficult it was.

The Dawgs do play one of the nation's toughest schedules this season with road games at South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU and Auburn. They have home games with Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia Tech and a game at Jacksonville against Florida. If Georgia wins the SEC East they will play in the Georgia Dome against the West champs in the SEC title game as well.

Bill says that Georgia can't win the national title with that schedule even though they are as talented as any team in the country. I agreed with Bill on almost every point he made until he went overboard with the SEC party line. Bill claimed that if any SEC team has two losses they still deserve to play in the BCS title game even if teams from the ACC or Big Ten were undefeated. He says that if Ohio State played in the SEC they would be a .500 team. He said if Clemson played Georgia's schedule they would lose five or six games.

Some don't understand the band of brothers that makes up the SEC but I figured out their situation many years ago.

SEC fans really don't like each other. They want you to believe they pull for each other but this is not the case. This is only an insurance policy.

I have been in SEC stadiums or tailgaiting outside of SEC stadiums and the PA announcer gives the score of an upset of an SEC team by an out of conference opponent. They place usually goes bonkers. I was not at an SEC stadium last November when Louisiana-Monroe upset Alabama but I would imagine most of the SEC fans were ecstatic. I imagine there were some laughs and some high fives. Someone probably made a crack about Bear Bryant being dead. But when Alabama beat Colorado in their bowl game battle and improved to 7-6 for the season I know many of those same fans claimed, 'SEC...SEC...SEC!' How can this be?

When California beat Tennessee last September I think Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee fans were ridiculing the Vols defense after giving up 45 points. They called Phil Fulmer 'Fat Phil' and had fun at the Vols' expense. But when Tennessee won their bowl game last year, again the 'SEC...SEC...SEC!' stuff started. How does this thing work?

You see, this is only an insurance policy. You get it both ways. You get to claim victory either way. When your conference rivals get upset like Auburn did against South Florida last season then you get to party at the expense of the Tigers. When they win the bowl game like Auburn did last year then you get to claim conference supremacy. This is insurance for fans. It is actually a great policy.

You see when you pull for a team then you really pull for a team. When your team loses then you cry. Your stomach doesn't feel right. It takes days or sometimes weeks to feel right again. You can't sleep. So all SEC fans have to pull for all SEC teams right? So when Florida State beat Alabama last year then the fans of Auburn, Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina should have been devastated right? Actually USC fans needed the loss because the Gamecocks and Bama finished 6-6 and were fighting it out for a bowl game. But USC fans could not break the SEC code of conduct and they had to pull for Bama. When Missouri went 2-0 against SEC teams last year all SEC fans should have not been able to sleep right? It is the code of conduct.

We don't have this code in the ACC. We simply do not do this in the ACC. Here are the rules for Clemson fans:
1. We don't like North Carolina. We don't like their colors. We don't like their fight song. We don't pull for UNC.
2. We don't like Florida State. We don't like their colors. We don't like their fight song. We don't pull for FSU.
3. We don't like Miami....you get the picture.
We never pull for these conference rivals because that is what they are...rivals. Manchester United doesn't pull for Chelsea. The Red Sox don't pull for the Yankees. Cats and dogs don't get along.

We don't need a stinking insurance policy.

Now there are a few scenarios that cause us to break out routine. They are:
1. As a Clemson fan, it is OK to pull for an ACC team if they play someone that is higher on the rival poll. For example, if South Carolina plays an ACC school it is expected that you break the conference routine and pull for the ACC school.
2. As a Clemson fan, it is OK to pull for an ACC team if Clemson directly benefits. The key here is directly. The strength of schedule argument in college football does not work because only number two and number three are affected by the strength of schedule argument. The acceptable deal here is if Clemson can move up in the polls because of an ACC rival winning then we can pull for the normal enemy. If the Tigers are ranked 10th and an ACC team is playing a team ranked ahead of Clemson then it is OK to pull for the ACC squad.
3. In some rare cases it is OK to have a team that you can't stand and it would be OK to pull for an ACC team if they played them. Again only on rare occasions. For example, I know some who really don't like Notre Dame. We can have a Notre Dame exception.

Do you think Clemson would have had a chance to sign a top ten class if Miami and FSU were on their normal games? You have a better chance to win the Yard of the Month if your neighbors' have crabgrass.

Remember the ACC is the enemy. If you see an ACC fan pulling for another ACC team then it should make us throw up in our mouths. Did I leave out any scenarios or did the three listed above cover all of our exceptions or is our code intact?

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