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Help me understand something

B

bbqbully

Redshirt
Sep 14, 2008
606
0
16
A friend and I were talking the other day about "sidewalk alumni" fans. In a way, I can see how someone who never attended any college could like one school over another, i.e. Bama or LSU because they're always so good and in their minds it makes them look cool or smart to root for the winners. In the course of the discussion, I brought up that my girlfriend has a nephew who considers himself a lifelong, rabid, diehard Ole Miss fan. Wears the Nike coaches polos when he goes out, wears his OM baseball cap for casual wear, OM stickers all over his vehicle. Now that in itself isn't so unusual but he not only didn't attend Ole Miss, he actually graduated from USM. My first thought was that maybe OM didn't offer the major he wanted, but he's a nurse. He could have gone to OM for a nursing degree. I know several people who attended one school but consider themselves fans of another. Some are State fans, some are Ole Miss fans, some Bama or LSU fans but went to another school.

My question is this; why would anyone do that when they could go to the school they like?
 
R

RocketDawg

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2011
19,000
2,084
113
There's probably any number of reasons they might not go to the school they root for in athletics. Maybe they couldn't get in. Or on the other end of the spectrum, maybe they had a better scholarship offer from the school they attended. Might be a proximity thing. Maybe their parents wanted them to go. Lots of reasons.

My wife's family are big OM fans and have never stepped foot on camput. Never went to college either. State has fans like that too, and I have no problem with it at all, regardless of what school they root for. The more fans the merrier.

Here in Alabama, I think something like 90% of the fans are "sidewalk fans". I seriously doubt any Alabama fans went to Auburn though .... Nor will you find many who went to OM rooting for State or vice versa. But S. Miss. isn't really a major athletic school like OM and State are.
 
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