Draft Day Suit

By Kristabella
19/11/09 at 08:00
13 Comments

Irrational Hatred

Two weekends ago, I was out at a bar on a Saturday afternoon watching college football. A friend of mine was in town from Oregon, so we were catching up on the Oregon/Stanford game. As a fellow Pac-10 alum (Go ASU!), I didn’t mind watching with her. I take more interest in Pac-10 football than most people in Chicago do.

Stanford routed the Ducks. It wasn’t even really all that close. At the end of the game, one of the people we were with, a jim-harbaugh fellow Chicagoan, was all “I didn’t know Jim Harbaugh coached Stanford! I LOVE Jim Harbaugh.”

And then I spewed hatred. And probably a little bit of actual saliva since I was drinking. Because I? DO. NOT. LIKE. JIM. HARBAUGH.

Why, you might ask? Well, I shall tell you. It is all because he forced Jim McMahon out of Chicago.

(I’ll just pause right here to let that sink in.)

This is normal, right? To have these irrational hatreds of athletes? For no good reason? Anyone? Bueller?

I understand rivalries. I hate University of Arizona (sorry Devra) because I went to Arizona State. I hate pretty much all of the schools in the Pac-10 for this reason. I am a Cubs fan, therefore hate the St. Louis Cardinals (although I think I actually hate the Houston Astros more. Stems from a deep-seeded hatred of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.) I am a Chicago Bears fan, so I don’t like the Packers or the Vikings.

But I have other hatred of players, coaches, announcers and teams, most for no good reason. And I’m not talking people I just want to root against. It’s meaner than that. I want to see them injured/destroyed. Here is a short list (with reasons)

Sean Salisbury – his eyes are too close together
Ray Lewis – because let’s be honest, he was involved in that whole thing somehow and got off scott free
Derek Jeter – JUST BECAUSE! (And no, he’s not cute.)
Lute Olson – he is the Anti-Christ
Mack Brown – do I even have to LIST a reason?
Torry Holt – he is a whiney bitch who REFUSES to get tackled and run routes in the middle of the field
Kurt Warner’s wife – Hey lady! YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY THE ONE PLAYING!
B.J. Armstrong – pushed out John Paxson on the Bulls in the 90s

There are so many more, but I won’t continue. Wow. I should really get some therapy.

So tell me, who are the players/coaches/owners you love to irrationally (or rationally) hate?

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By Sara Self-Made Mom
11/08/07 at 16:55
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Final Word on the Harbaugh Debate

I don’t care who said what, why they said it or the aftermath. What I do care about is that at the end of the day it doesn’t matter WHAT you major in in undergrad. Whether you’re at the University of Michigan or Stanford.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I bet you’ve heard about the recent spat between former U of Mich great Jim Harbaugh, and well, the rest of the University of Michigan athletic department. In May, Harbaugh decided to take a jab at the academic standards at Michigan by telling the San Fransisco Chronicle how he really felt about the athletic department:

Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, he said, but the
athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in and, when they’re in,
they steer them to courses in sports communications. They’re adulated when
they’re playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won’t
hire them.

Then Michigan star running back Mike Hart had a nasty retort, the media got involved and it all got ugly quick between the two parties. It’s great that Stanford has the highest academic standards of any Division 1-A program. And it’s pretty darn good that Michigan has the third highest academic standards in the Big Ten. I think that’s saying a lot for a team that has more football fans on a Saturday than any pro football team. (And probably makes more money.)

But the argument is getting lost in semantics. At the end of the day, should it really matter what athletes major in? I personally majored in History, and I can tell you straight up I’m not doing anything in that field. I think what college athletics should focus on instead is raising the athlete graduation rate percentage, and providing career counseling for ex-college players. So that athletes have choices and plans for what they’re going to do when college programs chew them up and spit them out. Or when the NFL doesn’t need them to run passing routes.

Fretting about whether these athletes go pre-med or biz school in their sophmore or junior year seems like a waste of energy. Really, at the end of the day, what matters more – if the player can remember who won the war of 1812? Or if they can put together a good resume for a job interview? I think the play calling is easy on that one.

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Sara is a former member of the University of Michigan football team and currently blogs at: Self-Made Mom.