Ahh, Fanbases

Last week we found out that two hick...err...lucky Oklahoma couples will get married in their local Wal-Marts this July. I know exactly what you're thinking...

"What the hell does this have to do with K-State sports?"

Well, nothing really. My initial reaction was "typical thing for Oklahoma." Being raised in Nebraska and educated at K-State, hating on the state of Oklahoma was a natural thing for me, though scientists haven't located the "loatheOK" gene yet. But everytime such thoughts cross my head, I have to step back and remember something. I'm from Nebraska. I've lived in Kansas. Now I live in Texas.

I have no room to be bagging on anybody for being a redneck.

I realized this could just as easily have happened in Grand Island, Neb., or Valley Falls, Kan., or Tyler, Tex., as Gore, Okla. So obviously I'm a person who gets caught up in the initial stereotype of making fun of other fanbases for their shortcomings, while overlooking those in my own. And it's a fun thing to do, sometimes, especially when dumb fans do something notorious or get exactly what they deserve (just the part about getting kicked out, not the rest of the crap Shatel wrote).

It's one of those things that will never change, and probably shouldn't, as long as the attacks aren't personal. But everytime a fan of any team accuses "the fans" of another team of being (insert random accusation here), they should remember that their fans have probably done many things dumber/worse/classless.

For example, every time I hear a Husker fan accuse some other team's fans of having no class, I'll never be able to forget "Sal is dead, go big red" in 1990. Whenever K-State fans call KU fans elitist, I can't help but think "You're all Kansans" (except for the ones from Johnson County, you don't really count). Whenever KU fans call K-State fans backward flatlanders, I can't help but think "You're all from Kansas." And whenever an OU/OSU fan points to another school and says its fan base is a bunch of toothless rednecks, I can't help but think "Your fans get married at Wal-Mart."

There's really no point to this, because I never will (nor intend to) stop fanbases from making fun of each other. As my uncle says, "What fun would sports be if we couldn't make fun of each other's teams?" But because of this, I intend to periodically post true, comical pictures of states/fanbases associated with all Big 12 schools. And because I will be driving extensively through Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas in the next week, I should have a good opportunity to get some of my own. If you happen to have some of your own, send them my way.

Happy Monday.