Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Green and White for me

When I moved south, I knew a lot of things would be different. I expected lots of confederate flags, fried chicken and unbearably hot summers, and I haven't been disappointed. However, there are a number of southern practices that caught me by surprise.

Every South Carolina native I know aligns themselves with either Clemson or USC (what the hell is a gamecock anyway?), and they are passionate about both their love for their school and their hatred for the opponent. I can't tell you how many get-to-know-you conversations I've heard that start with "Oh, you went to USC? I'm so sorry..."

Though Clemson is an hour away, when I'm on the highway on Saturday mornings during football season, as far as the eye can see are cars that look as though the Clemson Tigers threw up all over them. Multiple flags, tiger paw decals on the windows, and my personal favorite- the tiger tail attached to the hitch. Classy.

Anyway these people bleed orange and maroon down here and I just haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet. I had, at least, heard of Clemson before I moved here (only because my second cousin is an alumna) but I certainly don't stay glued to FoxSports.com on game day and I still find it laughable that other people do. Every time the Clemson/USC clash surfaces in conversation (which is often), all I can think is "nobody cares about your stupid so-called "rivalry!" Now let's talk about something that really matters, University of Toledo destroying Michigan last fall."

And don't even get me started on the USC Upstate Spartans. Sorry guys, real Spartans come from Lansing.

2 comments:

Hannah said...

you like football? who are you?

Hannah said...

I can't believe how predictable I am. I was about to make this same comment again, apparently I've made it before. This time it was going to look like this: "Wow, Karen. I didn't know you "like" "sports".