Semi-OT: Schools overly committed to a rivalry

Submitted by crg on
Watching the Purdue game on Saturday I noticed something that was unexpected (at least new to me). On kickoffs, the Purdue fan base yells "IU sucks" every time, which I find hilarious considering that they have not done well in that rivalry for a while (and IU wasn't there). That shows true commitment, to troll a rival at a completely unrelated event, and to do it often. Just curious if there were any similar examples around the CFB landscape (let's limit this to gameday traditions).

OldDad67

September 26th, 2017 at 3:18 PM ^

I can vouch for how obsessed Purdue fans are about Indiana. I was at the game with a good friend and his son who are both graduates of Purdue. They are embarrassed about the "I.U. Sucks" cheer, but just as obsessed themselves. The fact that their fans and band performed this cheer SEVERAL times during the game was hilarious.

wildbackdunesman

September 26th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^

Yep.  I was on a campus tour of Purdue for prospective students and the tour guide ripped Indiana repeatedly and pointed out that they don't use the roman numeral V on their large campus clock, because then 4 O'Clock would look too close to IU (IV).  So instead they use IIII for 4 O'Clock.  At that point, I couldn't wait to leave the campus.

814 East U

September 26th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^

MSU was chanting "Harbaugh Sucks" at the BGSU game this year I believe.

OSU's band usually brings up Michigan throughout the year.

Texas AM's War Chant or whatever is entirely about UT if I recall. They sing it every game.

Zoltan Disciple

September 26th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^

Came here to post about Texas A&M as well. Their "Aggie War Hymn", which is pretty much their fight song, is almost entirely dedicated to University of Texas. It features lines like "Goodbye to Texas University, so long to the orange and white" and an entire verse repeating "saw varsity's horns off". The entire stadium stands and sways while singing a song to a rival no longer in their division.

Yo_Blue

September 26th, 2017 at 2:24 PM ^

Kind of like posting stories about the FBI arresting college basketball coaches - if you're a bit late then you come in second.  In this case Pennsylvania was 5 days too late to be #1.  Meanwhile, Deleware entered the Union with an enthusiasm unknown to Pennsylvania.

fritZ

September 26th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^

It's not college, but anyone living in Chicago and going to Blackhawks games will tell you the fans start a "Detroit Sucks" chant no matter the opponent.

EGD

September 26th, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^

My wife was at a Tigers-White Sox game at Comiskey once, and told me that a Sox fan yelled "why don't you go back to Detroit and make a car!?" We love that one.

crg

September 26th, 2017 at 1:49 PM ^

Lived outside Chicago for many years and went to some games when Tigers and Red wings played there. I can confirm that a very large proportion of White Sox and Blackhawks fans are relatively classless. Cubs fans were amicable (this was long before the Cubs' turnaround).

cjgrape

September 26th, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^

Early 1980s. 4 of us were at Comiskey rooting loudly for the Tigers. Some Sox fans started giving us grief when one of them yelled, "Aw, leave 'em alone. They're probably unemployed." Ouch!

EGD

September 26th, 2017 at 1:45 PM ^

I think there is a certain subset of NY hockey fans who refer to any competent goalie as "Potvin." I think this started as a way of taunting Red Wings fans dispirited by the 1993 playoff loss to Toronto, and then morphed into something different by people who didn't grasp the premise. /theory derived from like three pieces of anecdotal evidence accumulated over several decades

RyGuy

September 26th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^

I had just discovered that plenty of school's incorporate trolling their rivals into the everyday game traditions. I'm a grad student at USC (ntUSC) and they yell "Clemson sucks!" or something like that on kickoffs. (I think it's on kickoffs.) It surprised me as a Michigan fan, because we don't do that, but it seems pretty commonplace overall.

Shakespeare

September 26th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^

At every USC game the band plays the Fleetwood Mac song "Tusk" and during the chorus the fans all cheer "U-C-L-A sucks" no matter who they're playing. It's actually one of the cooler marching band songs and fan cheers I've seen. 

WolverineHistorian

September 26th, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^

The entire Illini student section wore them for the 2002 game in Champaign.  Which is ironic because Illinois was the defending Big Ten Champions at that time (thanks to Spartan Bob screwing us over the previous year) so you'd think they would be wearing shirts that celebrated that, but no.  Muck Fichigan it was. 

We beat their Big Ten championship team 45-20 at the big house so maybe they were still smarting over that.