MSU Graduates and their interest in sports

[jmbeck]

I work in an office of around 120 in Birmingham, AL. Of this 120, there are 6 MSU graduates, 1 being a woman. Of that 6, only 1 cares anything about MSU sports. I excuse the girl.

Granted, the other 4 sort of fall into that "Douchebag Engineer" category, but is this something that is common? When I lived on the coast, everyone I met that was an MSU grad either followed our sports, or at least claimed to be a fan, even if they didn't get into sports. Not so much here.

Do you find this where you work, or are these people casualties of the "Douchebag Engineer" syndrome? Side note, all 6 are Mississippi Natives.

I'm also thoroughly convinced that MSU Athletics contributed to about 50% of my enjoyment while a student. I went to summer school, and it always sucked a little because there wasn't a sporting event to look forward to. What did these "non-sports" slapnuts do?

 

[jmbeck]

I work in an office of around 120 in Birmingham, AL. Of this 120, there are 6 MSU graduates, 1 being a woman. Of that 6, only 1 cares anything about MSU sports. I excuse the girl.

Granted, the other 4 sort of fall into that "Douchebag Engineer" category, but is this something that is common? When I lived on the coast, everyone I met that was an MSU grad either followed our sports, or at least claimed to be a fan, even if they didn't get into sports. Not so much here.

Do you find this where you work, or are these people casualties of the "Douchebag Engineer" syndrome? Side note, all 6 are Mississippi Natives.

I'm also thoroughly convinced that MSU Athletics contributed to about 50% of my enjoyment while a student. I went to summer school, and it always sucked a little because there wasn't a sporting event to look forward to. What did these "non-sports" slapnuts do?

 

[maroonmania]

I'm an engineer and love sports but the profession is chocked full of geeks and nerds that never gave a rip about sports a day in their life. Just another reason why our Bulldog Club has such a lousy percentage of participation from among the alumni. Now that doesn't really explain the apathy from the other graduates of MSU, but I can certainly see why the engineering side doesn't translate into rabid sports fans.

 

[KurtRambis4]

you kidding...summer was one of the best times in starkville. Glenn Hollow Pool representin'

 

[Bulldog Backer]

...you could always tell the engineers, they had horn rimmed glasses and their slide rules hanging on their belts in a black leather Dietzgen "holster." It was like having a 9mm on your belt. Nerds, yes, douche bags no. Most of these kids, and I was an exception, never played sports. You rarely saw the Nerdgineers at sporting events and rarely saw them at LenLew's or the Crossroads.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

laid back as hell, and you hung out with people you normally wouldn't during the school year. Freshmen, seniors, whatever.

 

[FQDawg]

I'm not super hardcore but I certainly like a wide range of sports. I don't see how a guy can not like sports, even the faggy non-contact sports like golf or baseball. What do they do on Saturdays?

 

[seshomoru]

Class in the morning, $2 disc golf in Columbus in the afternoon, 75 cent drinks at Daves at night. As for the weekends? The freedom from Cell Block Student Section in Davis Wade left room for anything.

 

[beachbumdawg]

I work in an office of around 120 in Birmingham, AL. Of this 120, there are 6 MSU graduates, 1 being a woman. Of that 6, only 1 cares anything about MSU sports. I excuse the girl.

Granted, the other 4 sort of fall into that "Douchebag Engineer" category, but is this something that is common? When I lived on the coast, everyone I met that was an MSU grad either followed our sports, or at least claimed to be a fan, even if they didn't get into sports. Not so much here.

Do you find this where you work, or are these people casualties of the "Douchebag Engineer" syndrome? Side note, all 6 are Mississippi Natives.

I'm also thoroughly convinced that MSU Athletics contributed to about 50% of my enjoyment while a student. I went to summer school, and it always sucked a little because there wasn't a sporting event to look forward to. What did these "non-sports" slapnuts do?

Know exactly what you are talking about......I work with 2 MSU grads here in Birmingham (i work for that evil company...HA!!)....although they are engineers they do keep up with sports pretty regularly....(one grad 80's the other 90's....me 2004)....so we get to talk about the different things that was going on during each of those times in Starkville......I wasnt one of the typical engineering students in that I played sports from 3 thru 1 semester of JUCO when I realized I didnt have talent or desire to play anymore.......and I also spent a lot of time at the Sanderson or running down mainstreet from Sanderson to Mugshots and back.....now one downside to the engineering was the fact I didnt get to go out as much during the week due to schoolwork......

oh and summer school was my favorite time (especially being a Co-op) in that I could just take class till lunch and hang at the pool at the Polos or the one that was over by the new walmart (cant remember that apartments name)

 

[wbc40]

nm

 

[Ol Blue.sixpack]

...you could always tell the engineers, they had horn rimmed glasses and their slide rules hanging on their belts in a black leather Dietzgen "holster." It was like having a 9mm on your belt. Nerds, yes, douche bags no. Most of these kids, and I was an exception, never played sports. You rarely saw the Nerdgineers at sporting events and rarely saw them at LenLew's or the Crossroads.

Rarely see them measuring athletes in their sock feet either.

 

[disappointeddawg]

I'm an engineer in Birmingham as well and I can tell you it's not just MSU alumni that are like that. I am the only one in our firm that didnt go to Auburn although there used to be one other state grad before he quit to go take over his family farm. The other state grad, while I wouldn't put him in the "douchebag engineer" crowd, couldn't have told you who we played in football the monday after the egg bowl. He simply didnt care about MSU sports. The Auburn grads seem more in a depression than anything else so I don't really know what to think. They all have stuff hanging in there office but sports are rarely talked about. Like someone else said, the truth is engineers as a whole are a bunch of dorks. I got lucky and work with a group of pretty normal guys but we certainly dont go as a group to the sports bar for long lunches during big sporting events like some of my non-engineer friends claim to.

Also, taking ten steps out of my apartment to get to the glenn hollow pool after spending the morning in gimme summer classes will go down as one of the best times of my life. I don't see how anyone could say summers in Starkville sucked.

 

[KurtRambis4]

no doubt, WBC. Tiki bar?

 

[Hanmudog]

I will never forget meeting a fellow State grad several years back when we went to Omaha. I asked him if he was pumped about us being in Omaha and he asked me what was going on in Omaha. He said he did not even know we had a baseball team. I waited for him to crack a smile or something but he never did. He was serious.
Needless to say, we never became very good friends.

 

[was21]

students and alums I've encountered since then seem to not have a clue or care about any MSU sports, but most of the business alumni seem to be just the opposite...don't know why.

 

[The Big Slick]

He said he did not even know we had a baseball team.

You should have said, "Yeah, we've got uniforms and everything. It's great".

 

[Agentdog]

I think it has more to do with MSU history of not winning many and being out of state. Losing on the field + losing touch of news = apathy. With that said, I worked with 4 State engineers at one time. They were all pretty big fans. BUt this was in Memphis and State gets alittle coverage there. I have met a few State grads in Little Rock....none care.

 

[Hanmudog]

Hearing a State grad ask what is "Left Field Lounge" just disturbed me deeply on some level. There should be some kind of exit exam at Mississippi State before recieving your diploma. Guys that do not like sports make me uneasy because there is usually a good chance that they do not like women either.

 

[JohnDawg]

thanks for that.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyBulldog]

I'm an engineer too and most of the people I work with are follow sports. We stopped working and watched the SEC and NCAA tourney games that aired during work hours. There are a few complete <17>in' dorks that I work with (MSU, OM, and LSU are all represented) but even most of those follow sports.

There are a few that don't give a ****, but they are outnumbered greatly.

 

[bulldawj]

I must be from another planet or something. I graduated in Petroleum Engineering in 1978 and have worked all around the world with three different companies. Been around a bunch of MSU Engineers and all of us are MSU sports fans and I mean big time. I have never run into a single Dawg Engineer who didn't care about MSU sports. I know a heck of a lot of MSU Engineers.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

I met friends there that I still meet, but I could've met those kinds of friends at any university to which I went. For the four years I went to MState, the university and the city of Starkville did their utmost to take as much money from me as possible, without so much as a "thank you". The townies treated students like ****.

Whatever we say about Gene Swindoll, at least his message board got me interested in MState athletics again (winning the SEC west followed by a 10 win season sure helped).

I can understand why MSU students alumni don't really give a rat's *** about whether or not about the school.

 

[bulldawj]

I was at LenLews and I graduated in Engineering. I didn't have horn rimmed glasses nor did I have a slide rule hanging on my belt. But I did have a Gibson Les Paul strapped around my neck and a Marshall half stack and could be found playing rock, blues, jazz, and some country around the area in the 60's and 70's. As I mentioned in this thread below, I must be from a different planet because yours and others description of Engineers is nothing like my experience.