Rivalries

I hate Canton McKinley!!!  I enjoy seeing them lose every time they play and no matter what Percy Snow thinks, Chris Spielman was head and shoulders above him as a linebacker.  As a bit of a background, I am from Massillon, Ohio and we have a historic rival with a school to our east.  It can be quite intense and bitter at times and has even been documented by Sports Illustrated, USA Today and the idiots from EsPN.  One of my proudest accomplishment as an athlete came while I was on the j.v. golf team and we beat McKinley.  Every sport at every level has rivalries.  Some of the most famous are Ohio State-Michigan, Red Sox-Yankees, Lakers-Celtics and of course, Auburn-Alabama.  The reason I ended the list with that particular rivalry is the recent incident at Toomer's Corner.  If you are not aware, Toomer's Corner is famous for being a gathering spot for both Auburn students and alumni.  After every Tigers win, the trees at Toomer's Corner are covered in toilet paper, a scene that was widely covered when Auburn won the most recent fraud championship game for college football.  The trees that get covered are over 130 years old, but may not last much longer.  An Alabama fan was recently arrested for poisoning the trees.  Seriously...a 62 year old man was so fired up by the rivalry that he felt it necessary to poison and kill the historic and symbolic trees.  What triggered such a reaction???  Surely an Auburn fan killed Nick Saban's dog or the sign welcoming you to the University of Alabama was permanently changed to say something derogatory, right??  Oh no...this 62 year old man had his crimson panties in a bunch because an Auburn fan had put a Cam Newton jersey on the Bear Bryant statue before this years Iron Bowl.  Now, let me be clear...a jersey was placed on the statue...not spray painted on.  So within a minute of discovering it, the jersey I am sure was removed.  This is the type of prank that goes on between rivals all the time, fun and harmless.  But this one individual decided killing trees was the only way to respond.  How sad of an existence does the man have that what happens in athletic contests between 18 to 22 year old student-athletes could push him to an action like this?  Now, I am sure this one person does not represent the typical Bama fan.  But I am also sure that fans like this exist within every fanbase.  With all the talk radio and 24 hour sports coverage today, it seems to me that someone could be driven to an act like this much more easily now than even 15 years ago.  Anonymous idiots can also hide behind their computers and spit ideas like this out all the time with the hopes that some other idiot will actually act it out.  And to what end?  Did this mans life alter from one year to the next cause his team wasn't the fraudulent national champion anymore and his rival team was?  I highly doubt it.  Trust me, the teams I cheer for are awful.  In the famous words of Dr. Seuss as only Boris Karloff could sing, they "stink, stank, stunk."  But my life is not altered in any way because a few athletes as a collective group aren't better than the collective group of other athletes.  Rivalries are great and can be alot of fun for both fans and players, but let's keep things in perspective.  It is only sports after all.  Oh...one more thing...BEAT McKINLEY!!!!

The roll we were on came to an abrupt end this week.  Kansas looked like the overrated team they were and the Lightning went down in a seven round shootout to the Flyers.  Now that we are one game under .500 again we need some winners this weekend.  First up is a game from the ridiculous EsPN marketing machines bracket buster.  Kent State will be on the road playing Drexel Friday night and are getting 5 points.  I think Kent will play well and pull out the win, but I'll take the 5 just to be safe.  As an oddball pick, let's turn to the NBA All Star game and play the over.  I have no idea what the total is, but I'll bet over, especially with the game in Los Angeles.  Everyone will be out to make a name for themselves on the offensive end, not the defensive end.  Good luck, and remember, never bet what you can't afford to lose.