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Volume CXXXII, Number 2 |
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Midwest football: true grit
CONOR WILLIAMS
COLUMNIST
As a young high school senior back in Michigan, I was warned. "You're going east for college? Don't you know what they're like out there?" Some were particularly scathing: "If you come back saying 'wicked,' I'm going to kick the shit out of you."
It was made abundantly clear to me that all easterners were effete, arrogant, and spoiled rotten-prep-school products and particularly vociferous in their opinions, New Englanders in particular. So understand, I'm a product of a rampant Midwestern inferiority complex.
Now, let me be straight with you-after a year of Bowdoin, while I've
certainly had moments that confirm the damning criticisms, they're not
true. That is, for the most part.
Let me be blunt-you guys simply don't know football. Independent of Bowdoin's
historical struggles on the gridiron, there just isn't the same grassroots
football enthusiasm here. On any given day, it's common that the quad
will be filled with Frisbee and whiffleball games.
Pickup football? It's a pretty rare commodity. Whiffleball? Honestly, I can't figure it out.
In Michigan, the state practically drops everything three times every
fall: Michigan State vs. Michigan, Michigan vs. Notre Dame, and most of
all, Michigan vs. Ohio State. For that reason, I'm in mourning, as the
Wolverines just dropped a big one to Notre Dame.
We live, die, sweat, and cry with our teams, and the NFL is no different.
Whether it's the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field or the blistering winds
of Soldier Field, football is mythical.
Remember Saturday Night Live's Chicago superfans? Well, they're real, and they exist just like the Packers' astronomical twelve NFL titles. Except for the Bears, who've taken nine, nobody's even close.
More importantly, let's remember the 1986 Super Bowl, when the Bears and Patriots met in the Super Bowl, and the "Monsters of the Midway" smoked the Patsies like a joint, 46-10.
They were the toast of the nation, with "The Super Bowl Shuffle," William "The Fridge" Perry, and Walter Payton.
That kind of enthusiasm is just missing here. The Pats won the Super Bowl, and within days, everyone quietly went back to their studies, back to hockey, back to whiffleball. Where's the fire?
Let's quote some more numbers-the University of Michigan has more wins than any other college team, followed closely by Notre Dame. In spite of the recent Florida impingement (I question if their flighty offensive game is really football), Heartland teams dominate the sport unequivocally.
Just take a look at the conferences-the Big Ten and Big Twelve are the true hotbeds of football strength. Nebraska, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Texas constitute the class of the NCAA. With the addition of the Florida sunshine frolickers, those teams routinely complete the top of the ranking lists year in, and year out.
So perhaps, with all of this evidence before me, I should've realized that Boston College's Eagles were the biggest fish in the Eastern football pond north of the Mason-Dixon. Somehow it just didn't occur to me that there was such an overwhelming void.
Students here follow the Red Sox for 162 games with more enthusiasm than was mustered for the Patriots last year until the last few playoff games. Meanwhile, Chicago was in absolute chaos waiting to see if the Bears would continue their remarkable season. It just doesn't seem right.
Now this isn't to question the toughness, or the virility of New England
or her inhabitants…you guys have rugby and lacrosse, sure. Soccer's
a great game, and the student body here seems pretty talented compared
to what I'm used to.
Still, it's a little odd to be sitting down alone for the game, whether
it's the Pack and Bears, or Oklahoma and Texas.
I mean, seriously-who plays whiffleball?