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A Buckeye in SEC country: A pilgrim in an unholy land

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tennesseebuckeye11's picture
February 25, 2015 at 11:45am
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"Hey buddy, I just wanted to check and see if you were doin' alright?"  said the voice on the other end of the phone.  He was a Bama fan and he was calling about Braxton Miller going out for the year.  Arrogant son of bitch. I could sense the delight in his voice. One of the few possible challengers to his team's throne atop college football had been scratched from the list.  While Bama fans look mostly to their conference to assess the coming years rivals, they always keep a nervous eye to the north wondering if a viable challenger has risen in the Big Ten.  In recent years it hasn't taken them much more than a few weeks into the season to realize that the once competitive conference will remain a reliable punchline for their jokes. Meyer coming to Columbus gave them some concern, I only know this because, they would take time out of their SEC chest-thumping to tell me that Meyer was washed up and that Ohio State would still not be able to handle the SEC. They know Urban Meyer can coach, he is the one who touched off this most recent run of titles for the SEC.  Uncle Urban in Columbus made them nervous.  A team coached by Urban Meyer running a hurry-up spread offense plus an athletic quarterback equals trouble for Alabama. So, no chance of seeing Braxton Miller this year made them feel safe once again.  Thus, a phone call feigning concern for my well being after news of Miller's injury was just a Bama fan being a typical shit talking, egotistical prick, and breathing a sigh of relief.  Because he knows you can't stay on top forever and he knew what we were amassing in Columbus was trouble for the Crimson dynasty.
   I live in East Tennessee, and have worked the last 6 years as a firefighter, living and working every third day for 24 hours in close proximity to; and being outnumbered by SEC fans.  Most here are Volunteer fans, a cocky bunch in their own right,but there are Gators fans, and LSU fans, and the afore mentioned Alabama fan.  Amongst themselves they identify by their particular team loyalty, to anyone else…they are the SEC.  
I don't know when that started exactly, but they are almost as big a fan of their conference as they are of their individual teams.  They break out into chants of, "S-E-C!, S-E-C!" when their teams are playing non-conference opponents.  I can't say that I have ever seen anything like it, claiming the dominance of a collection of geographically aligned teams as though they were actually only one team.  I have occasionally within my own thoughts pulled for a team aligned with the conference of Ohio State, but never just outright started cheering for my conference. There is the Buckeyes, then there is everyone else.  Never the less they do that here in the SEC country, it seems to be as acceptable to cheer for a conference as it is to cheer for a particular team.
    I humbly made my loyalties known at work, although I was not quite prepared for how unpopular they might be.  As it turns out most here in the south hate the B1G, I mean there is real deep seated contempt for the B1G conference.  Even before the SEC's most recent rise to power.  They claim a B1G bias on ESPN, claim to be spurned by national media in favor of northern teams like Ohio State or Notre Dame, and one of the biggest thorns in their side is Charles Woodson winning the Heisman over Peyton Manning  It's like listening to Jan throw a fit because of how much everyone talks about Marsha. (Marsha,Marsha,Marsha!) There is some real angst built up towards northern teams.  I grew up my whole life in Ohio before moving here and don't ever remember having much dislike for Southern teams, I even liked some of them, of course that was before I met their obnoxious fans, who were acrimonious in there comments about my beloved buckeyes. 
    As Florida dispatched of Ohio State in the National title game so began the Buckeye bashing that I would have to endure for nearly a decade.  The SEC would go on to 7 straight titles and the delight in the demise of the B1G was nearly as enjoyable to my SEC contemporaries as their conference's rise and domination of the sport was. Those were some hard years my friends. It seemed at times to be Ohio State against the world, at least the world I was living in.  Most times I was outnumbered in my defense of the Buckeyes, and their lack of success against the SEC was making it harder and harder to fend off the circling sharks.  
    It was not that I believed the Buckeyes unable to measure up to the SEC, it was that everyone around me did.  They proclaimed it with such over-whelming arrogance that it seemed an exercise in futility to convince them of anything else.  It was like they believed that no one else was even worthy of mention in college football.  While I faithfully flew my Buckeye flag, my  pompous SEC contemporaries took every occasion to tear at me and my beloved Buckeyes, and there were just to many occasions where I wasn't left with much ammunition to fire back in defense.  Even with the occasional Buckeye success and SEC stumble there was not near enough to overcome the chorus of malicious ignorance I regularly had to face.
    Then came Jan. 1, of 2015.  The Day of Reckoning!  The mighty  SEC fell, their champion slain by none other than my beloved Buckeyes. All of the best teams in their conference lost, and some lost badly. Ohio State capped off a dethroning of the mighty SEC west by taking down their flagship program in the inaugural College Football Playoff.  I would be hard at work only a few days later serving up humble pie to many of my co-workers.  I had nearly a decade to make up for and at least a year to "run the bases."  I wasted no time and like a skilled hunter; I waited patiently for my prey. I did not have to wait very long before the SEC defenders arose to make excuses…and then I burned their beloved SEC to the ground.  I did not let them retreat, when they tried to back down, I reminded them of their own proclamations of dominance, and then I crammed it back down their throats. They would send up the white flag, I tore it down and burned it too.  No where was safe for them, I would not allow it.  I had endured too much, it was time for them to get their kumuppins.  Alas , they became Oregon, fans if only in hopes of stopping my "march to the sea."  In a little over a week later I came for that too.  While beating Alabama was me eating my sundae, Oregon and a National Title was merely the cherry on top.      
    Upon my bed at my firehouse is an Ohio St. comforter and pillow, but it sits as more then just that.  It is a constant memorial to the SEC fanboys of who they must now bow the knee too.  I immediately purchased several championship tee shirts, and even now I still wear one, (clean or not) every time I go to the gym or to the store.  The once cocky Alabama fans won't even look me in the eye. On the occasion that they do, they are quick to realize their folly and immediately look away.  The "SEC fans" have little protection from ridicule in proclaiming their conference affiliation and superiority, so they have gone back home to their respective teams.  The SEC east as it were, won a host of bowl games, no one cares that Tennessee beat Iowa, but in those meaningless victories they try to assuage their anguish.  I know the feeling, I have been there many times myself, but now I will not relent.  If but not for a moment it is time for them to eat crow.  As for me, I will stand in the smoldering remains of this vanquished empire, wrapped in scarlet and grey, arms uplifted, bowing to no man, as a pilgrim in an unholy land. 

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