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Comment by feet | Hacker News Reader

>College students are literally trained to associate out-competing rival universities as a fun and desirable activity.

This was not my experience in undergrad, literally at all. No idea where this comes from

Anecdotally, my wife’s school (UNC) had a rival (Duke). Temple That’s not weird or exceptional. There’s long Wikipedia article about rivalries between universities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_rivalries_in_t...

Is that something that's just cultural in the community or is it something explicitly taught by university orientation/course work?

Those campuses are seeped in that rivarly. You'll hear chants, speeches, etc. It's a tradition.

To add on to this, I have a co-worker from a specific university who would not buy a car because it was a rival universities colour.

This person is ~30 years out of school, and the vehicle was an INCREDIBLE deal and exactly what the person was looking to buy (other than the colour).

The person never competed in sports and was a comp sci major. It runs deep for at many schools.

They themselves might have cared, but damn if I wear a purple shirt in Seattle folks are like Go Huskies to me, to the point where I think twice about putting it on or wearing it outside the house. I could give a damn about sports or nationalism, but lots of other idiots do.

I think it's a little unfair to call people idiots for something that's extremely hardwired into their brains.

That is why we go to great lengths to civilize ourselves. Sports fanaticism is a fetal nationalism. Maybe we should challenge our hardwired programming, it does seem to offer a lot of control in our actions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_hooliganism_in_the_Un...

Or maybe sport is a way to vent the natural hate off in a harmless way.

> idiots

Downvoted and reported, frankly. How can you do callously say something about this? You do realize sports fans are (for the most part) self aware of the inconsequence of a sports rivalry in the real world, right?

I apologize for triggering your sensitivities. But I implore you to look critically at the role that sports fans and fanaticism plays in our culture.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/sports-fan-violence-factors...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_violent_spectator_inci...

http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/violent-sports-fans

My wife would not let me wear a tie with Michigan colors to a wedding. Michigan and (the) Ohio State are rivals; she grew up near but did not go to Ohio State.

It’s deep indeed.

I chose my car color over my other preferred color (orange) for precisely this reason.

It’s fun to use little heuristics like this - and completely harmless considering the inconsequence of the decision. I know it doesn’t matter, but I can’t buy two cars, and I really could have gone either way. Is this really so far fetched?

I really enjoy trolling the Harvard grads I know by referring to their “time at Yale or Princeton or wherever.” Old school rivalries run deep and are a lot of fun to play up.

Also, for all of you in South Carolina, go Tigers (and Chants), booo Cocks!

I wonder if this research gives hints as to why rivalries are “fun”? Even when you know the in/out group distinction is silly, little aggressions like “boooo Cocks!” can tickle reward areas in the brain. Akin to how scary movies are fun even when you know you’re not in danger.

As a Gamecock fan, and a somewhat reasonable person (self described), I’ve been defending rivalries based on this exact case throughout this thread.

I completely agree with your speculation. It’s fun for me to even type: go fight win kick ass fuck Clemson. Ahhhh

I’m a proud Gamecock, and maybe that’s why I’m all over this thread.

I just replied to a guy a few comments up about how I unironically chose a red car over orange (one of my favorite colors) because go, fight, win, kick ass, fuck Clemson!

We can all agree the SC state flag is pretty, I guess.

Go to hell LSU! Gotta win the Egg Bowl over those scrubs at Mississippi State. Woo hoo we’re in the playoffs!

It comes from many people’s experiences of collegiate sports which is full of rivalries, largely with no real basis. Except for LSU.

How do you say you associate with the University of Mississippi without saying that you associate with them? Ha. I work there and went to school there too, so those first few sentences(well, except for the playoffs remark lol) sound very familiar.

Class of '04, Computer Science. Hotty Toddy.

Fun times. You may remember me if you recall someone with a common first name and the last name of a bird(was there starting in 04); I certainly stayed around there long enough lol. Tended to keep to myself, though.

I was referring to college sports programs, which are a huge deal in the United States (where this study took place).

Pick 35 random male college students and you will get a lot of college sports fans.

Were you in college in the US, or somewhere else? It may be more prevalent in the US, dunno. Just based on observations of US sports and cheerleader culture.

Undergrad in the Midwest US

It's not universal among U.S. college students either. I went to a Div3 top-tier (academically) liberal arts college, and most people were oblivious to how our sports teams did, unless you were on the team or close friends with someone who was. Probably because we lost a large percentage of the time.

The sports culture is much more relevant at Div1 schools. These get a disproportionate amount of air time (at least as far as sports go), but that's largely because those are the schools where sporting matches are worth watching.

We definitely were introduced to my state school’s rivalry at my undergrad orientation. It’s all in good fun, but certainly reinforced.

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