Conference, Schmon-ference. What Up With Conference Loyalty?

I think back to last years BCS game in NOLA and remember seeing LSU fans chanting
"S E C, S E C," at the time I liked it. I got all caught up in the moment. I had half a bottle of Crown in me and I was all jacked-up watching The Tigers work over the Buckeyes. (What the hell is a buckeye anyway?)

The fans chanting must have been inspired by the domination displayed over the Big Ten champs in the title game for the second year in a row. The previous years title game featuring Florida and Ohio St. was no better for the Bucks or the Big Ten.


I really don't remember this conference loyalty and conference pride thing being so in your face the way it is now. When I lived in New Orleans I only hung out with people from New Orleans. We all loved LSU, except for a few loyal Tulane fans who hated LSU. We never cared about conference loyalty or what fans around the country thought. I really don't remember pulling for Auburn or Bama if they played a Pac Ten team. There was no way I could bring myself to pull for Florida. Never could I pull for Florida. Never. We hated all SEC teams, I still hate them and as Sam L Jackson put it "I hope they burn in hell".

Now that LSU is in the hunt for the title game each year rankings mean so much more. So I guess it would make sense for me to hope that the SEC plays well nationally. Only I can't do it. I just can't pull for Georgia or TEE-dork in Florida. I could never, never, never pull for Saban, unless it meant LSU would profit by a Bama victory.

Last week when UCLA beat Tennessee I heard it from some Pac Ten fans the next day. F*## that, I refuse to answer for Tennessee, or any Sec school. My loyalty begins and ends with LSU. My team. Not my conference. My buddy put it best, "why should I pull for Bama or Auburn to do well when every year we have to compete for recruits." It is a great point really, recruiting is dirty down in the south, dirty everywhere really.

So unless it benefits my team directly, I refuse to pull for ANY Sec team. Fuck em all. I will not pull for any Sec school out some sense of conference loyalty. I don't care if Pac Ten fans think the Sec sucks. I don't care what Big Ten fans think. All I want is an Sec title every year. Its simple, if LSU has more wins than any other team in the Sec west, then I get to watch them one more week against a top notch opponent in Atlanta. One more big game to get wasted and piss drunk. A weekend filled with the anticipation and drama that could leave me flying high from a Tiger victory, or so disgusted by defeat, that I drink myself into a state of grace where I will most likely throw up and possibly even shit my pants.

As for this system with the quality of opponents influencing the rankings in order to get a shot at the title, well, that system needs to change. Playoffs. 12 conferences, 12 teams make the playoffs. Win your conference and you are in. No more bitching, no more griping that your team "should have" or "would have" won if they "hadn't been screwed" by the rankings. Players would control their own destiny on the field, between the lines, where champions are meant to be found, not in the rankings of the Sunday night polls. No more writers or has beens deciding who is the best or who gets a chance to be best based on pollsters infinite "wisdom" and grandiose opinions. Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.