This is (an) Indiana (rivalry)

The title of this post sucks. I get it. I literally sat here for 10 minutes, trying to think of something, couldn't think of anything, and gave up. That's the first thing that popped into my head. Don't let it hurt your enjoyment of this post.

This is going to be a post filled with raw emotion, and my thoughts might not always be very well constructed. Please give me some leeway. Or don't, I really don't care.

Rivalries in sports are a beautiful thing. Let me be clear: they are a beautiful thing when the teams are playing each other. Watching the Red Sox and Yankees play is a wonderful thing. The teams don't like each other -- and yet they respect each other. Honestly, rivalry games are probably my favorite events in sports.

The IU-Purdue rivalry is an example of one of these. It's true that the rivalry hasn't been as great as it was during the Bob Knight/Gene Keady era, when both teams were members of the elite ranks in college basketball, but the games are still usually very interesting, well-played, exciting games. Granted, it's sort of difficult to have interesting, well-played, exciting games when IU is winning roughly 10 games per year as they have for the past few years, but they still found ways to make some games exciting, like two years ago in Bloomington where the game came down to the wire.

But with this beauty comes maybe my least favorite thing in sports -- trash-talking by fans.

For the past three years, I (and all IU fans) have had to put up with constant mockery from Purdue fans. IU is a more historically great program than Purdue, so Purdue fans have leaped on this opportunity to make up for years of playing second fiddle to the Hoosiers. In a way, I understand where this comes from.

But the overall douchiness of Purdue fans over the past four years is still remarkable to me. I remember an instance in particular, right after Purdue won in dramatic fashion in the NCAA tournament over (I believe) Texas A&M. Some friends of mine, who shall remain nameless, got on the internet right after it happened, and instead of saying something like "Boiler up!" or "What a win!" or something, said "How far did IU go in the tournament this year?"

This is something that I do not understand. I do not understand somebody, right after a huge win by the team they have supported for his or her entire life, insulting a rival instead of celebrating his or her team's success. Honestly, to me, it's the sign of a poor fan. And obviously there are crappy fans in every fan base -- you don't have to tell me that there are crappy IU fans.

This is not to say that all Purdue fans are like this. I know many Purdue fans who are apathetic about IU, unless Purdue is playing them. This is how I feel about Purdue. I love rooting against Purdue when they play IU. I don't love rooting against them when they play Mississippi Tech for their second game of the season. I don't grin and happily jump and down while clapping when they lose to crappy teams.

If you are reading this post, then you know I'm an IU fan. My brother goes to Purdue and competes in swimming there, so my case is pretty unique. I don't hate Purdue as much as many of my IU fan friends do. But even if both of my brothers had played IU basketball, I wouldn't treat Purdue fans the way many others do.

And sure, I've been known to occasionally offer the sarcastic quip about Purdue (yes, the language in that sentence is supposed to sound lame). Usually, this is because a) I'm bitter for some reason, most likely an IU loss or b) I'm feeling particularly douchey. Over the past few years, I have reacted poorly to Purdue fans at times. To give you a better idea of what this looks like, here's an example:

Purdue fan: IU SUCKS!!!

Me: No, you suck, poopman! Purdue is gay! Boiler down!

(end scene)

It's not pretty. I'm not proud of it. Although I don't think I've ever said "Boiler down!" At least I hope I haven't. But anyway, I think I've done a pretty good job of keeping my priority of paying attention to IU and not paying attention to Purdue as much. Because the truth is, I don't care how good Purdue is. Hell, the better Purdue is, the better/deeper the Big Ten is. I will rarely go out of my way to root for Purdue, but I also didn't insult Purdue after IU beat Kentucky.

I know I've rambled a lot through this post, mostly because proofreading or collecting your thoughts beforehand is for wimps, so I'll end by saying this: people who take an unusual amount of glee in a rival's failure, even going so far as to insulting a rival instead of celebrating a victory, is the sign of a bad fan. Purdue fans do it. IU fans do it. Fans of all teams do it. It needs to stop. Healthy competition based on a respect, however grudgingly it is given, is a beautiful thing. You guys are ruining it with your douchiness.

And so ends hopefully the last time I will ever complain about IU-Purdue rivalry.