Fifth Avenue Forum

There's a thread on r/CFB about fans who cheer for a school of which they weren't an alumni. And really, that's my problem with college football. I enjoy watching it but I mostly root against schools rather than having my own team. That's what happens when you go to Ohio University and not THE Ohio State University. How do you guys handle that? Do you root for a school you didnt attend? If so, how did you pick a team?

I guess I qualify under the Non-FBS Alumni rule. I went to W&J and while our football program is solid, we're Division III. Back in the day (mid-to-late 1990s), this only got you on TV if you made it to the national championship.

I was mostly a Michigan fan from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, but I started following Pitt in the early 1990s when I was in high school because a couple of Erie guys went there. I got into Pitt for undergrad but went to W&J instead. I really started following Pitt more during Walt's first year in 1997; some friends at W&J were Pitt fans and that helped rope me in a little. They surpassed Michigan as my favorite program. In the late 1990s, I got into Pitt for law school and while I didn't go there (oops), a number of friends did so I was on campus there quite a bit. When I started working at my current job, one of my coworkers was a friend from college who was a Pitt fan. Our boss was a Pitt grad, a season-ticket holder for football and hoops, and his brother-in-law was one of Wanny's assistant coaches, so we went to like 3-4 football games a year for a while.

Over the last several years, I've become friends with a number of others in the Pitt fanbase. Pitt Twitter is honestly one of the best communities of fans I've been a part of in any sport, probably because we're very aware of the program's ridiculous struggle with mediocrity. There is no insult you can throw at a Pitt fan about the football program that we haven't already thought of ourselves.

the pitt clique is always accepting new members

Will you talk to the students about pedestrian safety?

No

I grew up 45 min from PSU in a PSU family, but didn't want to go to a large school and ended up at Grove City. It's most famous sports-wise for former Steeler and Brown RJ Bowers, one of few Division 3 players to score an NFL touchdown and still 3rd on the all time NCAA rushing yards list. Beyond that their football history is ignominious. I then got my MBA at a D-1 school with no football team.

Oh Grove City. I'm sorry.

Oh Grove City. I'm sorry.

I found ways to drink ridiculous amounts of beer anyway.

I have degrees from RMU, UF, and UPS. Other than trying to care about UF while going there (didn’t take) my allegiance and thirst for misery has never wavered from the Super Panthers. It’s who I grew up watching and that history and my allegiance to this city’s sports teams runs deeper than whatever **** university charged me too much for a degree.

I thought the whole foundation of CFB was people that couldn't dream of being accepted to a state school in the south spending all of their money supporting programs that pump out "student"-athletes who have meaningless degrees in football.

Gatekeeping fandom by requiring that the fan either have gone to that school (or any school, haha) would see an immediate collapse of the sport. Or maybe just Alabama.

My undergrad and masters is from Maryland and I tried to root for them, but they killed a kid in 2018, handled it really **** poorly, and all they had to do was write a $3.5M check. So I'm done rooting for them in even a cursory way.

Oh Grove City. I'm sorry.

I found ways to drink ridiculous amounts of beer anyway.

Lol

Source of the post Gatekeeping fandom by requiring that the fan either have gone to that school (or any school, haha) would see an immediate collapse of the sport.

To be clear I'm not saying you can't be a fan of a school you didn't attend. Hell, I'm looking to bandwagon somewhere. MACtion only takes you so far.

So if htey play bad, does that mean they can be fired?

Oh Grove City. I'm sorry.

I found ways to drink ridiculous amounts of beer anyway.

My mom said they used to take suitcases like they were going away for a weekend then stuff them with beer and sneak back into the dorm through a window.

Sound about right?

So if htey play bad, does that mean they can be fired?

Schools already cut kids or severely limit their playing time if they aren't good.

Oh Grove City. I'm sorry.

I found ways to drink ridiculous amounts of beer anyway.

My mom said they used to take suitcases like they were going away for a weekend then stuff them with beer and sneak back into the dorm through a window.

Sound about right?

Pretty much.

We actually had a former dean who let us use his property for parties. I'm sure the admin knew but due to his standing didn't do anything about it.

Re: fandom

I grew up cheering for PSU and Pitt, just because I was close to both, had family members that attended both, and didn't think anything weird about cheering for both.

Then I went to PSU and became a bigger PSU fan, but I still cheer for Pitt (except when they play PSU, which doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon).

Schools already cut kids or severely limit their playing time if they aren't good.

Typically they aren't offered a scholorship or are a walkon. I don't know many examples of a kid getting cut from a team outright and losing their scholarship for anything outside of disciplenary reasons.

Just an honest question though. If one day they are considered employees, I know all the positives that could come with that, but does anyone ever bring up the negatives, such as the opportunity to be fired if their performance is not up to par, etc.

... do you think NFL players aren't considered employees? I guess I'm just confused at your confusion here. It seems pretty straightforward.

I feel like college players wouldn't be treated any differently, except that if they get cut from the team, they'd still maintain enrollment at the school.

... do you think NFL players aren't considered employees? I guess I'm just confused at your confusion here. It seems pretty straightforward.

I feel like college players wouldn't be treated any differently, except that if they get cut from the team, they'd still maintain enrollment at the school.

NFL players are 100% considered employees. Right now, the thinking, whether right or wrong, are that college athletes are students at the school that happen to play extracirrucular sports. Many are getting a scholarship to attend that school for playing the sport. But if they happen to not pan out or are playing poorly, they get reduced playing time, but typically are not "cut" or have their scholarship taken away.

If they are considered employees moving forward, if they are playing poorly, can the coach just fire them and they are no longer part of the university and would have to apply for admission again if they truly want to go to that school as a student. If there are pay cuts university wide, can some of the players get "laid off", etc. Right now under NCAA guidelines, there are x amount of scholarship players per team and then some walkons and other individuals. If they have to be paid a salary, if the walkons don't add much value or some of those other players that are on scholarship that don't see the field, for cost saving purposes, or if they want to pay the better players more of a salary to retain them, can they just eliminate those positions.

Bascially run it like a real business. I mean I'm sure they could be unionized then like the NFL and work out a collective bargaining agreement. But in todays world, there is definitely a difference between college athletics and professional athletes.

There's a thread on r/CFB about fans who cheer for a school of which they weren't an alumni. And really, that's my problem with college football. I enjoy watching it but I mostly root against schools rather than having my own team. That's what happens when you go to Ohio University and not THE Ohio State University. How do you guys handle that? Do you root for a school you didnt attend? If so, how did you pick a team?

My parents (neither of whom went to PSU) were season ticket holders for 40+ years so that's what I grew up on. My grandfather, who also didn't go to PSU, was a season ticket holder beginning in the 60s. My dad's side of the family is from the Williamsport/Altoona area so PSU football was sort of the 'professional' team that they had the best access to. I never considered PSU when picking a school because it was too big and once football season ends, there's nothing but a cold, remote land with nothing but university life around. My brother went there on the 6+ year plan and that didn't work so well.

Pitt Twitter is honestly one of the best communities of fans I've been a part of in any sport, probably because we're very aware of the program's ridiculous struggle with mediocrity.

Pitt doesn't struggle with mediocrity. They are very good at mediocrity. It's overcoming it that they struggle with.

So it does seem like it’s mostly geography. Although I have a cousin who lives in Ohio and is a die hard Florida fan. Never understood that.

Nocera do you see how mean OP is? That's why we fight the good fight with Pitt football. H2P

Pitt doesn't struggle with mediocrity. They are very good at mediocrity. It's overcoming it that they struggle with.

This is my favorite recurring column during college football season

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... -no-1-spot

This is my favorite recurring column during college football season

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... -no-1-spot

The 5 years I lived in Mass were the UMASS Calipari golden years. There was a lot of “UConn is scared to play UMass in basketball” talk going on when they couldn’t get a game scheduled despite being like 75 miles apart. Believe they finally did play in Boston.

Glad to see that matchup on the football field 25 years later will solve the not top 10.

Rooting for a specific college team bc they are good and nearby doesn't bother me. However, the brother of a girl I dated was a

St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan
Dallas Cowboy football fan

Penn State football fan

Duke basketball fan


And grew up in Northwest PA.


hard to get on board with that.

Wasn't there a dude at the old board that was a Penguins, Cowboys, and Braves fan?