Fixation with College teams

[Farmersfan]

Why do you suppose so many people take on a almost obsessive fixation on the college team that represents the school they attended? I have several people in my building that are near fanatics about UT or A&M. These people PLAYED football for a Jr. High and High School for 6 or 7 years and yet don't have the fixation for that team that they have for a college team that they were basically invisible to for just a couple of years. Why the blind homerism for a college team when in truth they were nothing more than a single ant in a mound of a million other ants? It seems to me you would have that kind of devotion to the team that represents the school district you attended for 12 years and even played on.................
Any insights?

[ziggy29]

I guess I don't understand why the "obsession" or "blind homerism" (to use your terms) would have to be one or the other...

[BreckTxLonghorn]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
Why do you suppose so many people take on a almost obsessive fixation on the college team that represents the school they attended? I have several people in my building that are near fanatics about UT or A&M. These people PLAYED football for a Jr. High and High School for 6 or 7 years and yet don't have the fixation for that team that they have for a college team that they were basically invisible to for just a couple of years. Why the blind homerism for a college team when in truth they were nothing more than a single ant in a mound of a million other ants? It seems to me you would have that kind of devotion to the team that represents the school district you attended for 12 years and even played on.................
Any insights?

Odds are, as much as you love your high school, you really didn't have a choice in where you want. Family brought you there.

A college represents the first of many adult decisions a person will have to make in their life. The education received there could affect one's career. Plus, a decent amount of money is being sunk into the whole experience.

College is more than just being one ant. It's where many people lived on their own for the first time. It's where people meet their best friends, their networking acquaintances, their wives/husbands, their exes who introduce them to their wives/husbands. It's where a lot of the craziest memories they'll ever have occur. It's a place where they recall the crazy professor with Tourette's, or the best place to get a burger a few blocks away.

They may not have played on that team, but that team represents the college they chose, the place where they really grew up into an adult and contributing member of society. You don't need to have played on that specific team to feel a strong devotion to your school's success. Sorry you can't seem to want to feel that emotion, but when you have it, it's amazing.

[BwdLions]

I started watching Texas Longhorn football back when I was just a little kid. I really got hooked watching the Texas-ou game. (You know Eagle1, the game that's played in Dallas every year at the State Fair of Texas, but should be played in Austin and Norman).

My point is, if you follow the same team your whole life, it becomes part of your life. For me I go to the Red River Rivalry (you know Eagle1 the game that's played in Dallas every year, but should be played in Austin and Norman) whenever I can, take the family to Austin, Waco or Lubbock to watch the Horns play. (I also go to their baseball and basketball games but nothing is better than football as far as I'm concerned. I'll admit it, I'm obsessed with the Texas Longhorns.

[icu812]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
Why do you suppose so many people take on a almost obsessive fixation on the college team that represents the school they attended? I have several people in my building that are near fanatics about UT or A&M. These people PLAYED football for a Jr. High and High School for 6 or 7 years and yet don't have the fixation for that team that they have for a college team that they were basically invisible to for just a couple of years. Why the blind homerism for a college team when in truth they were nothing more than a single ant in a mound of a million other ants? It seems to me you would have that kind of devotion to the team that represents the school district you attended for 12 years and even played on.................
Any insights?

Its not the obsessive fixation that bothers me it is the blind hatred of all other schools but theirs that I don't get.

[Electus Unus]

cause the interwebs and collegiate football is serious business

[cshscougar08]

I agree with BreckTx. Got a lot to do with the fact that YOU chose to go to that school and let them represent you. I chose OU and I am very proud to call that my school and am happy to support it in any way possible.

[sahen]

breck couldnt have put it any better, though i still follow my high school team...but i care way more about baylor than my high school...

[BobcatBenny]

This fixation with college teams started as a tradition at Texas A&M and then was copied, first by Notre Dame, then spread to the academies ... followed by every other university and college in the nation.