re: cbi8's take on LSU and "rivals"

quote:

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I'm not sure what "national cachet" has to do with the OP about LSU and rivals. Most rivals are in-state or border by nature.

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It means teams take a greater interest in you as a potential rival. Yes, rivalries themselves tend to be regional (though there are significant exceptions) but let's not underestimate the power of branding here. LSU could resume playing Tulane every year from now until Star Trek and while it may be a "rivalry," it's not one LSU would choose. The same holds in other situations -- if LSU had a bigger footstep back in the day, they certainly would have attracted more interest in a potential "rivalry" from other teams they played regularly. People can -- and do, apparently -- argue endlessly about whether Bama/LSU is a rivalry, but the arguments would be a lot more muted if the two teams were both huge names simultaneously back when Chollie Mac was doing a damned fine job of coaching in the same conference as the Bear. If LSU had been a bigger brand, or Chollie more competitive overall, we might even now be talking about the half-century old classic Bama/LSU rivalry. The fact that shamefully few outside Louisiana know what a great coach LSU had at the time is symptomatic of what I'm saying.