Keyboard Cowboys

My favorite teams are Miami and Ole Miss. I worked in Sports Publicity at both schools. At Miami, I was lucky to be there when Howard Schnellenberger built a fence around South Florida and brought Miami to national relevance (previously they sold home games to their opponents to make money for their athletic department). At the same time, Ole Miss was pretty much irrelevant, but my mother taught Accounting at Ole Miss and was the first female named to the school’s Athletic Committee, so I enjoyed their successes. I can tell you that the vast majority of fans for both schools are thrilled with the success of their teams. I had an uncle who was a die-hard Ole Miss fan and would get so depressed when Ole Miss lost, and they lost a lot. I promised myself that I would never get so invested in a sports team that it brought down my joy in life. I am almost 70 so I have seen a lot of college sports. I still do not get the need some fans of any school have to spend time trolling their opponents. It is easy to become a keyboard cowboy and say things you would not say face-to-face. I love it when Ole Miss and Miami win but, honestly, I do not lose sleep when either one loses or has a coach leave. It seems that each year, more and more fans of SEC teams cheer for their fellow SEC schools to lose. I love seeing our conference brethren succeed. I have not seen that nearly as much with ACC fans but, of course, they rarely succeed to the level the SEC has enjoyed. The only team I cannot get myself to cheer for is Notre Dame!