Rivalries

Well...I guess that we should all remember this too

Being an Aviation major, I had big plans for my first man post. Unfortunately, Daniel is more manly than I am, works around "real planes" and beat me to the punch. Alas, I must wait a season before I return to that topic.

Fortunately, the topic of rivalries is often on my mind, and with the most revered rivalry currently on the rocks, I thought I would address this most manly of traditions.

When you get down to the bare bones of a rivalry, one has to realize that it was born of a man's mind. Domination, pride, show of force, love of self, competition, bragging rights and hatred... all show their beautiful face in a proper rivalry. There is something about these long held traditions that brings out the natural man in me. Why is it that nothing brings more personal satisfaction and pride than an old-fashioned beat down? Especially when I did nothing to personally secure the victory. The truth of the matter is that I picked the right team at the right time.

So the question, then, is "why"? Quite simple my sports loving friends, quite simple. It comes from a deeply bred and nurtured manly instinct known as "I-want-to-fight, you-take-flight". Similar to the "fight or flight" instinct, the former is an instinct of the purest form, passed down through the generations through proud fathers, passed on to their worthy sons so that they too may enjoy the spoils of belonging to the winning team.

I was first taught about my emerald and navy genetics by my father. Being the Mariner fan that he is, I was born with an inherent dislike for anything Yankee. When I was child, I was even trained to sing "Mariner-doodle-dandy". Being the AL rivals that we are, we always sat intently around the TV waiting for Randy Johnson to bean Derek Jeter. I learned a very important lesson from this particular rivalry, though. Sometimes you have to savor the victories despite losing the war. Yankees (*spits on the ground) have been the better team historically, but that doesn't mean we don't give 'em hell when they come to Safeco Field. There have been many low points for me in this rivalry (the betrayal of A-Rod, for instance). These low points have only strengthened my loyalties, though.

This brings me to the rivalry of all rivalries. There are few rivalries that resemble the Civil war like the "Holy war" does. On both sides of the line of conflict are common enemies. Most belong to the same religious denomination, vying for collegiate sports domination. Intertwined into the rivalry are jabs and accusations of religious extremism or immoral activities that defy the religious laws that form the commonality between the two rivals. Making the rivalry even stronger is that bragging rights are carried into church, along with the usual boasting at work, school and home. The rivalry between Utah (*spits on the ground again) and BYU has long stood as a means of men on both sides to claim superiority over the other side, and now the rivalry is facing uncertain times. For the first time since the rivalry began, the two teams will not be in the same conference. If the match-up becomes rare, how will these men prove their worth among each other? Up to this point, we rivals have been prevented from ripping each other apart by allowing our heros in shoulder pads to duke it out for us. Without conference commonality, the rivalry will most likely take a back seat to BCS dreams.

Addendum: Just because this is a good picture--

Addendum #2- Check out this video, and then record the time on the video at which you receive goosebumps... As for me (Dane), it was at 0:08.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uXDglb82ak