Conversation with a lawyer down in Oklahoma.
He: "So, who do you guys follow up there this time of year?"
Me: "Huh? Um. . . ."
He: I suppose you all follow UW, eh? Are there any other teams?
Me (now realizing that we're probably talking about university football): "Oh, yeah. . we follow UW, it's the state's only four year university and the only one up here with a team. . . ."
He: "Are they still coached by that coach. . . oh you'll know the name, who coached in Iowa (or some such place)?"
Me (now realizing the game is up): "Um, well I don't know. . . I don't really follow football so I'm not sure who the coach is or where he's from. . . "
Embarrassment.
I wish I did follow football, as I'm always odd man out this time of year. But try as I might, I just can't develop an interest in it, and I've given up trying. I did use to try nearly every year, but I conceded. It's hopeless. I don't know what teams are good or bad, and I don't even know how UW is doing or going to do. Oh well.
3 comments:
I grew up in Oklahoma surrounded by the whole OU vs. OSU rivalry, and I still don't follow football or understand why others seem to care so much about it.
People that didn't even go to either university will base their entire outlook on life on whether or not "their" team won or lost their game last weekend, what bowl game they are going to go to, and how they are ranked in the coaches polls.
Of course, I also never went to any of the football games when I was in college, so that might be part of the reason for why I'm not interested in football.
I also had a roommate in college that grew up in Norman which meant that his entire extended family were rabid OU fans, but he hated everything about OU, so he enrolled in OSU, went to every OSU football game, and was a fan of everything OSU football related. He was even harder to understand than the typical football fan and his story wasn't as rare as you would think it would be.
I've never been to a University of Wyoming football game, even though I graduated from there twice. Indeed, I've never been to a UW basketball game either. I've been to volleyball and rugby games, but that's about it. Suffice it to say, as those sports are not subject to rabid following, they seemed a bit more fun to attend. If the teams wins or looses, I gain nothing personally by it, to its easier to enjoy.
Football runs right through fall, so in order for a person to really follow it they have be giving up fall fishing and hunting, which is a big part of the reason that I have a hard time figuring out why people follow it. It's a sport played by really big people, which I am not, and during a time of the year when there's a lot of fun things to do. Given that, I just can't identify with it at all.
Also, that "our team" thought is big here too. Lots of people who have never attended the University of Wyoming develop an enormous attachment to UW's football team.
Indeed, in some ways football teams seem to substitute for state armies. I've known Nebraska expatriates who were rabid about the University of Nebraska's football team even though they don't live there, and they haven't attended school there. It's some sort of tribal thing. That's true of UW's football team as well. It's "our" team only in the sense that UW is our only four year university, and I guess as its a state school, the athletic department belongs to us. Beyond that, however, it isn't as if the entire team is from Wyoming. Some of the players are, but hardly all of them by any means.
I've only personally known UW football players twice, which was interesting. One was a place kicker who was in law school and still on the team. He never made much of a deal out of it, and nobody else seemed to care much. The other guy had been a great lineman when he was first in school and was well remembered in that role. He didn't follow UW football at all when I knew him several years later.
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